Internet health information sources
| Published date | 01 February 1996 |
| Date | 01 February 1996 |
| Pages | 135-146 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045458 |
| Author | Caroline A. Stevens,Anne Morris,Goff Sargent |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Article
Internet health information sources
Caroline
A.
Stevens, Anne Morris
and Goff Sargent
Department
of
Information and Library
Studies,
Loughborough University
of
Technology,
Loughborough,
Leicestershire LE11
3TU,
UK
E-mail:
a.morris@lut.ac.uk
Abstract: A study has been carried out
into
sources of consumer health
information available in the
UK,
with particular emphasis on the use of electronic
sources of health information As part of this latter
aim,
the
research has entailed
an investigation of the Internet to identify the types of health information
available. This paper discusses briefly the sources of health information that are
available to the public, focusing on electronic information
sources,
and then
presents the results from the search of the Internet for health
information.
(The
links presented were correct at the time of going to press
but,
as with the nature of
the
Internet,
some links may change.) The facilities available on
the
Internet
which were used to guide
the
search are
presented.
Twenty major health
information sites were identified and examples of the types of subjects presented
at
each
site are
given.
The information found is judged for
its
suitability for the
consumer or
professional.
In conclusion, the usefulness of the Internet as a health
information
source
is
considered.
1.
Introduction
The provision of consumer health in-
formation (CHI) to the general public
is
now recognised, politically,
as
being
important (Gann 1991a). It enables the
public to take responsibility for main-
taining their health and to make in-
formed decisions regarding their
health care. There are an array of
health information sources available
and since the publication of
the
Gov-
ernment's Patient's Charter in 1991
(Department of Health 1991), when
Regional Health Authorities were
obliged to set up Regional Health In-
formation Services (RHIS), the num-
ber of information services has grown
(Gann 1994). While RHIS provide ac-
cess to information chiefly via a
freephone telephone number, more lo-
cal town-based and hospital-based in-
formation services serve the public by
providing a drop-in service (Stevens et
al. in preparation a). These informa-
tion services are just one way of pro-
viding consumer health information.
The variety of services include tele-
phone helplines for specific health
problems (Kempson 1987): for in-
stance, the AIDS and national drugs
helpline. Health centres and GP sur-
geries have leaflets available on cop-
ing with illnesses and health
promotion. Libraries are traditionally
seen as a source for information and
many now subscribe to Helpbox, the
database developed by Help for
Health, which provides information
on national and local self
help
groups
and relevant publications (Gann
1991b).
Further sources of health informa-
tion are provided by electronic infor-
mation systems designed for public
ac-
cess.
These systems may supply health
information alone or as one compo-
nent of a larger community informa-
tion package. Two systems currently
in use in the UK which provide health
information alone are PIPs, developed
in 1993 by Sue Jones (Jones 1994),
formerly Manager of Open Health, the
South Western RHIS, and Health-
point, devised in 1988 by Ray Jones at
the University of Glasgow (Jones
1993).
These systems seek to provide
comprehensive health information on
conditions, treatments, self help
groups and relevant literature.
There are many examples of public
access community information sys-
tems,
usually managed by local gov-
ernment, which provide health infor-
mation as part of a larger community
information
service.
Examples include
OXCIS run by Oxfordshire County In-
formation Service (Doulton 1993),
INFOBOX run by Berkshire County
Council (Aitchison 1993), SCIP man-
aged by Strathclyde Regional Council
(Doulton 1994) and Rotherview,
Rotherham MBC's system (Rother-
view News 1994). Frequently the
health information available on these
systems is limited, focusing mainly on
contact names and addresses for health
related organisations (Stevens et
al.
in
preparation b).
An alternative source of electronic
health information is the Internet and
especially its hypertext development,
the World Wide Web. For those who
have the facilities to access it, the In-
ternet is becoming an increasingly
popular source of information with a
rapidly expanding range of topics
available, evidenced by the number of
magazines (for example, Network
News, .net, The Web, Internet World)
and recently published books (for ex-
The Electronic Library, Vol. 14, No. 2, April 1996 135
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