Boston College Researcher Looks at World Wide Web as Means to Promote Preventive Health Care

Contact:
Kathleen L. Sullivan
Media Relations Officer
(617) 552-3350

BOSTON COLLEGE RESEARCHER LOOKS AT WORLD WIDE WEB AS MEANS TO PROMOTE PREVENTIVE HEALTH CARE

CHESTNUT HILL, MA (12-2-97) -- A Boston College sociologist is directing an innovative experiment that could pave the way for consumers to use the World Wide Web in making more informed choices about their health and medical care.

Through the HealthQuest Project, a three-year investigation into the use of technology to promote preventive health care, web sites are being established on BC's computer network system to survey as well as to inform targeted members of the university community on selected health topics. The HealthQuest web sites offer programs that explain basic biology with understandable graphics, provide access to "chat groups" to encourage learning through interaction and offer referrals to support groups and health care professionals. Answers to FAQs (frequently asked questions) about health issues and links to medical literature also are on the web sites.

"HealthQuest is part of an effort to empower ordinary Americans in the medical marketplace," says Boston College Sociology Professor Jeanne Guillemin, principal investigator on the project. "What we're providing is a way to package information about particular diseases and medical conditions, so people can prevent -- or seek appropriate treatment for -- those conditions." Guillemin says she can envision a future in which this type of web-based access to health information is available to average citizens in physicians' waiting rooms, libraries and community centers.

Funded by a $525,000 grant from the National Library of Medicine's National Information Infrastructure Program, the project is being carried out in cooperation with the Decision Systems Group at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Boston College was selected as a research site because of its high-speed fiber optic capacity and the superior access to computer facilities it affords students and staff, according to Guillemin. An editorial board at Harvard Medical School supplies the health information used in the project.

For all programs, Guillemin and her team of student researchers survey participants before they use the web-based resources. After three months, the team evaluates what participants have learned and how web-based information might help them to make more informed choices about both self-care and seeking clinical help. The first program centered on substance abuse prevention and targeted first-year undergraduates, with 300 taking part. Approximately 125 female BC employees ages 30 and older are now participating in a breast cancer awareness program. Future HealthQuest programs will focus on sports injury prevention, prenatal care, and infectious diseases.

END