290639
Key refreshes of healthfinder.gov: Supporting the public in prevention and wellness
Ellen Langhans, MA,
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, US Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, MD
Silje Lier, MPH,
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, MD
Background: healthfinder.gov is a user-tested federal Web site whose mission is to help the public make informed health decisions by providing accurate, timely, and actionable information. Created in 1997 as a portal site to trusted health information, healthfinder was redesigned in 2008 to focus on prevention and wellness information; the site redesign made it easier for the public to use, and provided more links to interactive tools and resources. However, the website's focus on prevention and wellness was not clear to users of the site. Methods: In 2012, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) initiated a website refresh of key elements of healthfinder.gov, based on previously completed formative research, expert reviews, and usability studies conducted on healthfinder.gov; review of ForeSee Results and American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) survey findings; and program priorities for the healthfinder website. The mission of the refresh was to make more apparent the overall disease prevention and healthy living brand, while ensuring that the site remained functional, visually appealing, and easy to use and understand by those with limited Web and health literacy skills. Results: healthfinder.gov's refresh was launched on December 27, 2012, with a renewed focus on prevention and wellness content. Usability testing on the new site ensured the prevention and wellness brand was more apparent. Conclusion: This website serves as an ongoing case study of offering users tailored, evidence-based prevention and wellness content that is easy to use and understand.
Learning Areas:
Communication and informatics
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related education
Learning Objectives:
List three methods for improving a website’s usability.
Evaluate a website to understand its mission.
Demonstrate understanding of how an organization can use a website to support the public’s prevention and wellness decisions.
Keyword(s): Prevention, Communication Technology
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present on this topic because I am the program manager for healthfinder.gov. I led the efforts of the website refresh and manage the day-to-day maintenance activities. I have also been involved with all of the websiteâs outreach.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
