Chronic patients and social networking: Research lessons from a virtual community in the basque country

The Basque health system has systematically adopted various forms of healthcare information and communication technologies to address the challenge of chronic illness. The implementation of emerging technology in health care includes virtual communities of practice, electronic health records in primary care, and other innovations that weave public health and primary care interventions. The design and implementation of a virtual support network for chronic patients was launched in 2012 after piloting it with the participation of self-help patient associations. This research reports on a mixed method study that systematically analysed, via an online survey and focus groups the characteristics of the community, its impact on quality of life, and an exploration of its bearing in addressing the growing challenge of chronic illness. Methodological, conceptual, policy, and programmatic lessons will be discussed. Despite the growth of social networking opportunities for patients across the world has not been accompanied by efforts at collecting evidence of its impact. The virtual community of patients that this research project focused on is part of a public health care strategy offering rich lessons of the power that technology could have in public health and healthcare prevention and intervention in local and global contexts.