%0 Journal Article
%@ 1438-8871
%I Gunther Eysenbach
%V 4
%N 2
%P e11
%T A Review of Features in Internet Consumer Health Decision-support Tools
%A Schwitzer,Gary
%+ School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Minneapolis MN 55455, USA, +1 612 626 4637, schwitz@umn.edu
%K decision making
%K informatics
%K Internet
%K multimedia
%K social support
%K treatment outcome
%K prognosis
%D 2002
%7 22.11.2002
%9 Review
%J J Med Internet Res
%G English
%X Background: Over the past decade, health care consumers have begun to benefit from new Web-based communications tools to guide decision making on treatments and tests. Using today's online tools, consumers who have Internet connections can: watch and listen to videos of physicians; watch and hear the stories of other consumers who have faced the same decisions; join an online social support network; receive estimates of their own chances of experiencing various outcomes; and do it all at home. Objective: To review currently-available Internet consumer health decision-support tools. Methods: Five Web sites offering consumer health decision-support tools are analyzed for their use of 4 key Web-enabled features: the presentation of outcomes probability data tailored to the individual user; the use of videotaped patient interviews in the final product to convey the experiences of people who have faced similar diagnoses in the past; the ability to interact with others in a social support network; and the accessibility of the tool to any health care consumers with an Internet connection. Results: None of the 5 Web sites delivers all 4 target features to all Web users. The reasons for these variations in the use of key Web functionality — features that make the Web distinctive — are not immediately clear. Conclusions: Consumers trying to make health care decisions may benefit from current Web-based decision-support tools. But, variations in Web developers' use of 4 key Web-enabled features leaves the online decision-support experience less than what it could be. Key research questions are identified that could help in the development of new hybrid patient decision-support tools. 
%M 12554558
%R 10.2196/jmir.4.2.e11
%U http://www.jmir.org/2002/2/e11/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.4.2.e11
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12554558