The perception exists that the World Wide Web fosters global dissemination of health information by offering access to anywhere, thereby offering a “panacea” for consumers who want or need this information. But access is only one way to limit what consumers can view on-line. The context of health information can be “filtered” through the content provider including the web masters. A qualitative study was conducted examining the policies and procedures for information and links on breast cancer web sites. The study consisted of 3 parts: 1) a content analysis examined 30 constructs relating to the organization and to the posted information; 2) web masters were surveyed about the posting policies and procedures as well as the links; and 3) interviews were conducted with about 60% of web masters who responded to the surveys. A comparison was made between the written/ verbal responses of the web masters and the content analysis. The results demonstrated a paradox between what the web masters answered in the surveys/ interviews and what appeared on the web site. The majority of organizations had informal, non-written, undefined policies and procedures for posting information or creating links to other sites. The web master generally served as the primary arbitrator for posting content and links as part of many other duties assigned to that individual. Few received formal training in health informatics. The implications suggest that with few people making decisions about the content of health information, the potential to affect the context of this information is very high.
Learning Objectives: Upon completion of the presentation or poster, the participant will be able: 1) To define three roles web masters play in posting health information on the Internet 2) To explain the impact these roles have on the content of health information 3) To define recommendations for roles of web masters
Keywords: Internet, Health Information
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.