Biomedical subjects

Gary L Kreps

Publications and source records attributed to Gary L Kreps.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Cancer survivors information seeking behaviors: a comparison of survivors who do and do not seek information about cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the cancer information seeking behaviors and preferences of cancer survivors. METHODS: This cross-sectional study used the National Cancer Institute's 2003 Health Information National Trends Survey data to evaluate 619 cancer survivors. RESULTS: Two-thirds (67.5%, n = 418) of the survivors sought cancer information (InfoSeek) and 32.5% (n = 201) did not (NoInfoSeek). Significant predictors of cancer information seeking included age (less than 65), gender (female), income (>US$ 25,000/year), and having a regular health care provider (HCP). CONCLUSION: Not all survivors actively look for cancer information. Although most survivors prefer receiving cancer information from their HCP, many turn to a variety of other sources, primarily the Internet. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: HCPs should periodically assess information seeking behaviors and preferences of cancer survivors and actively refer patients to the Internet as an extension of and enhancement to their patient interactions. Credible and useful websites could be identified and recommended by the HCP as a means to address some of the barriers identified by survivors.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2006

The health information national trends survey: research from the baseline.

The decades surrounding the turn of the millennium will be remembered as a time of extraordinary opportunity in cancer communication. In 1990, the number of age-adjusted deaths due to cancer in the U.S. population began a slow steady decline after a century of disparaging increase. Reasons for this decline have been attributed to long-awaited successes in primary prevention, especially related to tobacco, and early detection for cervical, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers, as well as advances in treatment. This was also a time of unparalleled change in the cancer communication environment. Scientific health discoveries escalated with the completion of the Human Genome project in 2003, and penetration of the Internet made health information available directly to consumers. To seize the opportunity afforded by these changes, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) launched the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). Fielded for the first time in 2003, the HINTS is a nationally representative, general population survey of noninstitutionalized adults in the United States 18 years and older. This supplement contains a compilation of original research conducted using the data generated by the first administration of the HINTS telephone interviews. Covering topics in cancer knowledge, cancer cognition, risk perception, and information seeking, the articles represent an interdisciplinary view of cancer communication at the turn of the millennium and offer insight into the road ahead.

Computer Communication Networks↗

PubMed2005

Creating a framework for online cancer services research to facilitate timely and interdisciplinary applications.

Researchers from a wide array of disciplines have conducted engaging and informative studies in recent years concerning the use of the Internet for cancer-related services. Typically, these publications provide key data related to utilization statistics, how online information can be used, what users want or expect from the Internet, outcomes or impacts, and quality and credibility of websites. These are important themes for understanding online cancer issues. However, this special issue of the Journal of Medical Internet Research seeks to recast these themes in a way that will facilitate pragmatic and applied means of employing data in prescriptive and interdisciplinary ways. This issue includes 14 papers that exemplify applications for the research framework recommended in this paper. This framework includes an expanded focus on the development and design of online cancer services, online consumer behavior/communication, behavior change, and living with cancer.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMed2005

Disseminating relevant health information to underserved audiences: implications of the Digital Divide Pilot Projects.

OBJECTIVE: This paper examines the influence of the digital divide on disparities in health outcomes for vulnerable populations, identifying implications for medical and public libraries. METHOD: The paper describes the results of the Digital Divide Pilot Projects demonstration research programs funded by the National Cancer Institute to test new strategies for disseminating relevant health information to underserved and at-risk audiences. RESULTS: The Digital Divide Pilot Projects field-tested innovative systemic strategies for helping underserved populations access and utilize relevant health information to make informed health-related decisions about seeking appropriate health care and support, resisting avoidable and significant health risks, and promoting their own health. IMPLICATIONS: The paper builds on the Digital Divide Pilot Projects by identifying implications for developing health communication strategies that libraries can adopt to provide digital health information to vulnerable populations.

Community-Institutional Relations↗

PubMed2005

Library outreach: overcoming health literacy challenges.

OBJECTIVE: This paper examines the powerful influences of consumer health literacy on access to and use of relevant health information. METHOD: The paper describes how widespread problems with health literacy significantly limit effective dissemination of relevant health information in society, especially to many vulnerable populations where health literacy challenges are especially pervasive. RESULTS: The paper examines strengths and weaknesses of different programs for addressing health literacy problems, including educational programs, message design programs, and strategic communication training and intervention programs. IMPLICATIONS: The paper evaluates strategies that can be implemented throughout the modern health care system to address problems of health literacy by improving health information access, processing, and understanding. It concludes by examining several strategies that libraries can adopt to overcome many health literacy challenges.

Community-Institutional Relations↗

PubMed2004

Bridging the digital divide: reaching vulnerable populations.

The AMIA 2003 Spring Congress entitled "Bridging the Digital Divide: Informatics and Vulnerable Populations" convened 178 experts including medical informaticians, health care professionals, government leaders, policy makers, researchers, health care industry leaders, consumer advocates, and others specializing in health care provision to underserved populations. The primary objective of this working congress was to develop a framework for a national agenda in information and communication technology to enhance the health and health care of underserved populations. Discussions during four tracks addressed issues and trends in information and communication technologies for underserved populations, strategies learned from successful programs, evaluation methodologies for measuring the impact of informatics, and dissemination of information for replication of successful programs. Each track addressed current status, ideal state, barriers, strategies, and recommendations. Recommendations of the breakout sessions were summarized under the overarching themes of Policy, Funding, Research, and Education and Training. The general recommendations emphasized four key themes: revision in payment and reimbursement policies, integration of health care standards, partnerships as the key to success, and broad dissemination of findings including specific feedback to target populations and other key stakeholders.

Financing, Organized↗

PubMed2004

The Internet as a vehicle to communicate health information during a public health emergency: a survey analysis involving the anthrax scare of 2001.

BACKGROUND: The recent public health risks arising from bioterrorist threats and outbreaks of infectious diseases like SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) highlight the challenges of effectively communicating accurate health information to an alarmed public. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate use of the Internet in accessing information related to the anthrax scare in the United States in late 2001, and to strategize about the most effective use of this technology as a communication vehicle during times of public health crises. METHODS: A paper-based survey to assess how individuals obtained health information relating to bioterrorism and anthrax during late 2001. We surveyed 500 randomly selected patients from two ambulatory primary care clinics affiliated with the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. RESULTS: The response rate was 42%. While traditional media provided the primary source of information on anthrax and bioterrorism, 21% (95% CI, 15%-27%) of respondents reported searching the Internet for this information during late 2001. Respondents reported trusting information from physicians the most, and information from health websites slightly more than information from any traditional media source. Over half of those searching the Internet reported changing their behavior as a result of information found online. CONCLUSIONS: Many people already look to the Internet for information during a public health crisis, and information found online can positively influence behavioral responses to such crises. However, the potential of the Internet to convey accurate health information and advice has not yet been realized. In order to enhance the effectiveness of public-health communication, physician practices could use this technology to pro-actively e-mail their patients validated information. Still, unless Internet access becomes more broadly available, its benefits will not accrue to disadvantaged populations.

Ambulatory Care Facilities↗

PubMed2004

Forty years of diffusion of innovations: utility and value in public health.

This special issue is created to mark the 40th anniversary of Everett Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) model. Diffusion is the process through which an innovation, defined as an idea perceived as new, spreads via certain communication channels over time among the members of a particular social system. A great deal of research in a variety of academic disciplines (about 5000 published studies so far) has been conducted on the diffusion of innovations over the past six decades. The areas of application for these studies range from hybrid seed corn to modern math, to the snowmobile to antibiotic drugs, to HIV/AIDS prevention (Rogers, 1995). These investigations have led to a general model of the diffusion of innovations, which can be applied to the recent spread of the Internet or to any other new idea. Everett Roger's ground-breaking model has contributed to a greater understanding of behavioral change, including the variation in rates of adoption of innovations, and it has held a broad scope of practical applications in the field of public health.

Communication↗

PubMed2003

Consumer/provider communication research: directions for development.

Communication between health care providers and consumers is a critical part of effective health care delivery. Yet, the strategic use of interpersonal communication in health care delivery is most complex, multifaceted, and often problematic, necessitating careful study of the communication process in health care to increase understanding and help improve health communication practices. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) sponsored an expert symposium on consumer/provider communication research to examine progress and identify gaps in the research literature on doctor/patient communication. This paper and this special issue of Patient Education and Counseling reviews several of the key perspectives and suggestions presented at the symposium for directing future research and applications concerning consumer/provider communication.

Communication↗

PubMed2002

Evaluating new health information technologies: expanding the frontiers of health care delivery and health promotion.

The modern health care system is being irrevocably changed by the development and introduction of new health information technologies (such as health information systems, decision-support tools, specialized websites, and innovative communication devices). While many of these new technologies hold the promise of revolutionizing the modern health system and facilitating improvements in health care delivery, health education, and health promotion, it is imperative to carefully examine and assess the effectiveness of these technological tools to determine which products are most useful to apply in specific contexts, as well as to learn how to best utilize these products and processes. Without good evaluative information about new technologies, we are unlikely to reap the greatest benefits from these powerful new tools. This chapter examines the demand for evaluating health information technologies and suggests several strategies for conducting rigorous and relevant evaluation research.

Biomedical Technology↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Trust and sources of health information: the impact of the Internet and its implications for health care providers: findings from the first Health Information National Trends Survey.

BACKGROUND: The context in which patients consume health information has changed dramatically with diffusion of the Internet, advances in telemedicine, and changes in media health coverage. The objective of this study was to provide nationally representative estimates for health-related uses of the Internet, level of trust in health information sources, and preferences for cancer information sources. METHODS: Data from the Health Information National Trends Survey were used. A total of 6369 persons 18 years or older were studied. The main outcome measures were online health activities, levels of trust, and source preference. RESULTS: Analyses indicated that 63.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 61.7%-64.3%) of the US adult population in 2003 reported ever going online, with 63.7% (95% CI, 61.7%-65.8%) of the online population having looked for health information for themselves or others at least once in the previous 12 months. Despite newly available communication channels, physicians remained the most highly trusted information source to patients, with 62.4% (95% CI, 60.8%-64.0%) of adults expressing a lot of trust in their physicians. When asked where they preferred going for specific health information, 49.5% (95% CI, 48.1%-50.8%) reported wanting to go to their physicians first. When asked where they actually went, 48.6% (95% CI, 46.1%-51.0%) reported going online first, with only 10.9% (95% CI, 9.5%-12.3%) going to their physicians first. CONCLUSION: The Health Information National Trends Survey data portray a tectonic shift in the ways in which patients consume health and medical information, with more patients looking for information online before talking with their physicians.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS): development, design, and dissemination.

Little is known about access, sources, and trust of cancer-related information, or factors that facilitate or hinder communication on a population-wide basis. Through a careful developmental process involving extensive input from many individuals and organizations, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) developed the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) to help fill this gap. This nationally representative telephone survey of 6,369 persons aged > or = 18 years among the general population was first conducted in 2002-2003, and will be repeated biennially depending on availability of funding. The purpose of creating a population survey to be repeated on a cyclical basis is to track trends in the public's rapidly changing use of new communication technologies while charting progress in meeting health communication goals in terms of the public's knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. The HINTS survey instrument was built upon extant models of health communication and behavior change, taking into account the rapidly changing communication environment. Questions in the survey were drawn from an overall theoretical framework that juxtaposed the"push" aspects of traditional broadcast media against the"pull" aspects of new media. HINTS data will be made widely available for researchers and practitioners; it will help further research in health communication and health promotion and provide useful information for programs, policies, and practices in a variety of settings.

Access to Information↗