1. ONLINE FORUMS AND COMMUNITIES RELATING TO HEALTH ISSUES Education side of online health forums Presented by: Kloe Nelson-Cole, 13134124 Emotional effects of online health communities Presented by: Tara O’Sullivan, 13131753 Promotion and awareness of online health communities Presented by: Darragh Duggan,13156152

2. INTRODUCTION Research tools/ methods Team work Why we chose this topic

3.  Advantages.  Communities.  Negative Effects.  How to Improve. EDUCATIONAL SIDE

4. ADVANTAGES  Empowers.  Life Experiences.  Motivates. http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo- happy-laughing-baby-toddler-girl-image18467255

5. ● Communities Health vs. Illness - Both looking to improve. - Who is more likely to search? - Difference?

6. BRITISH STUDY OF 1322 USERS

7. 97% looked for a specific condition. 14%= in a support group. 10%=emailed a dr. office. 8%= Described to an online Dr. BRITISH STUDY OF 1332 USERS

8.  Inaccurate information.  Misunderstand information.  Patient and doctor relationship.  Health professionals feel threatened. http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-negative-attitude-image15035998 NEGATIVE EFFECTS

9. ● Prepare health professionals for switch (Health Informatics). ● Do not allow patients to see the internet as a replacement for health professionals. ● Keep health professional communities, health professional communities (Medscape). HOW TO IMPROVE

10. EMOTIONAL SIDE- ADVANTAGES  Anonymity is provided  Support.  Shared Experiences. Empowering. http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/content-strategy-healthcare-communities.jpg

11. EMOTIONAL SIDE - DISADVANTAGES  Addiction.  Extreme Communities.  Bullying.  Doctor/Patient Relationship.

12. OVERVIEW  Study of 528 patients with breast cancer who took part in online health communities demonstrated “patient empowerment”  55% indicated that they dared to be more open about their illness.  “being better informed” and “enhanced social well- being”.

13. PROMOTION AND AWARENESS OF ONLINE HEALTH COMMUNITIES Awareness and accessibility Media for promotion Popular promotions set up by online health communities

14. MEDIA FOR PROMOTION OF ONLINE COMMUNITIES Blogs eg. http://blog.healingwell.com/http://blog.healingwell.com/ Facebook Forums eg. http://ehealthforum.com/http://ehealthforum.com/

15. AWARENESS AND ACCESSIBILITY Shortage of information about these communities Huge awareness within these communities Sources of access to online communities eg. pinterest

16. POPULAR PROMOTIONS SET UP BY COMMUNITIES Stoptober, set up by the “smokefree” community Daffodil day, set up by the “Irish cancer society” Detweetathon,set up in support of “autism Ireland”

17. REFERENCES Ba,S.,Wang,L.(2013)”Digital health communities: The effect of their motivation mechanisms Decision Support Systems”, Volume 55, Issue 4, November, Pages 941–947 Cotten,S,R. Gupta,S,S. (2004)'' Characteristics of online and offline health I nformation seekers and factors that discriminate between them'' Social Science & Medicine, Volume 59, Issue 9, November, Pages 1795–1806 McMullan,M. (2006) ''Patients using the Internet to obtain health information: How this affects the patient–health professional relationship'' Patient Education and Counseling, Volume 63, Issues 1–2, October, Pages 24–28 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypochondriasis/ http://www.pinterest.com/restministries/health-communities-online/

18. CONCLUSION Online communities can create an internet informed user that is catered for in terms of emotional needs but not completely educated in a way of distinguishing between the accurate and inaccurate information. There is potential for growth in this sector of the digital world.