Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Sep 23;15(9):e211.
doi: 10.2196/jmir.2682.

Social and self-reflective use of a Web-based personally controlled health management system

Annie Ys Lau  1 , Adam G Dunn, Nathan Mortimer, Aideen Gallagher, Judith Proudfoot, Annie Andrews, Siaw-Teng Liaw, Jacinta Crimmins, Amaël Arguel, Enrico Coiera
Affiliations

Social and self-reflective use of a Web-based personally controlled health management system

Annie Ys Lau et al. J Med Internet Res. .

Abstract

Background: Personally controlled health management systems (PCHMSs) contain a bundle of features to help patients and consumers manage their health. However, it is unclear how consumers actually use a PCHMS in their everyday settings.

Objective: To conduct an empirical analysis of how consumers used the social (forum and poll) and self-reflective (diary and personal health record [PHR]) features of a Web-based PCHMS designed to support their physical and emotional well-being.

Methods: A single-group pre/post-test online prospective study was conducted to measure use of a Web-based PCHMS for physical and emotional well-being needs during a university academic semester. The PCHMS integrated an untethered PHR with social forums, polls, a diary, and online messaging links with a health service provider. Well-being journeys additionally provided information to encourage engagement with clinicians and health services. A total of 1985 students and staff aged 18 and above with access to the Internet were recruited online, of which 709 were eligible for analysis. Participants' self-reported well-being, health status, health service utilization, and help-seeking behaviors were compared using chi-square, McNemar's test, and Student's t test. Social networks were constructed to examine the online forum communication patterns among consumers and clinicians.

Results: The two PCHMS features that were used most frequently and considered most useful and engaging were the social features (ie, the poll and forum). More than 30% (213/709) of participants who sought well-being assistance during the study indicated that other people had influenced their decision to seek help (54.4%, 386/709 sought assistance for physical well-being; 31.7%, 225/709 for emotional well-being). Although the prevalence of using a self-reflective feature (diary or PHR) was not as high (diary: 8.6%, 61/709; PHR: 15.0%, 106/709), the proportion of participants who visited a health care professional during the study was more than 20% greater in the group that did use a self-reflective feature (diary: P=.03; PHR: P<.001).

Conclusions: There was variation in the degree to which consumers used social and self-reflective PCHMS features but both were significantly associated with increased help-seeking behaviors and health service utilization. A PCHMS should combine both self-reflective as well as socially driven components to most effectively influence consumers' help-seeking behaviors.

Keywords: Internet intervention; consumer; eHealth; emotional well-being; health service; help-seeking; personal health record; physical well-being; preventative health; social networks; university.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The University of New South Wales and some of the researchers (EC, AL) at the Centre for Health Informatics could benefit from the commercialization of the PCHMS.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Networks for the Women’s Health forum. Black squares are female, grey circles are male, the Healthy.me GP and/or counselor is represented in the red triangle.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Networks for the Men’s Health forum. Grey circles are male, black squares are female, the Healthy.me GP and/or counselor is represented in the red triangle.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Networks for the Stay Healthy forum. Black squares are female, grey circles are male, the Healthy.me GP and/or counselor is represented in the red triangle.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Institute of Medicine . Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine. The National Academies Press; 2011. - PubMed
    1. Tang PC, Ash JS, Bates DW, Overhage JM, Sands DZ. Personal health records: definitions, benefits, and strategies for overcoming barriers to adoption. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2006 Apr;13(2):121–6. doi: 10.1197/jamia.M2025. http://jamia.bmj.com/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=16357345 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tulu B, Horan TA. The electronic disability record: purpose, parameters, and model use case. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2009 Feb;16(1):7–13. doi: 10.1197/jamia.M2405. http://jamia.bmj.com/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=18952950 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Roblin DW, Houston TK, Allison JJ, Joski PJ, Becker ER. Disparities in use of a personal health record in a managed care organization. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2009 Oct;16(5):683–9. doi: 10.1197/jamia.M3169. http://jamia.bmj.com/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=19567790 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Weitzman ER, Kaci L, Mandl KD. Acceptability of a personally controlled health record in a community-based setting: implications for policy and design. J Med Internet Res. 2009;11(2):e14. doi: 10.2196/jmir.1187. http://www.jmir.org/2009/2/e14/ - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types