Journal ArticleDOI
Evaluation of an internet support group for women with primary breast cancer.
Andrew J. Winzelberg,Catherine C. Classen,Georg W. Alpers,Heidi Roberts,Cheryl Koopman,Robert Edward Adams,Heidemarie Ernst,Parvati Dev,C. Barr Taylor +8 more
TLDR
Preliminary evidence suggests that women benefit from their participation in web‐based support groups, and women who participate in breast cancer support groups have reported significant reduction in their psychologic distress and pain and improvement in the quality of their lives.Abstract:
BACKGROUND
Women with breast carcinoma commonly experience psychologic distress following their diagnosis Women who participate in breast cancer support groups have reported significant reduction in their psychologic distress and pain and improvement in the quality of their lives Web-based breast cancer social support groups are widely used, but little is known of their effectiveness Preliminary evidence suggests that women benefit from their participation in web-based support groups
METHODS
Seventy-two women with primary breast carcinoma were assigned randomly to a 12-week, web-based, social support group (Bosom Buddies) The group was semistructured, moderated by a health care professional, and delivered in an asynchronous newsgroup format
RESULTS
The results indicate that a web-based support group can be useful in reducing depression and cancer-related trauma, as well as perceived stress, among women with primary breast carcinoma The effect sizes ranged from 038 to 054 Participants perceived a variety of benefits and high satisfaction from their participation in the intervention
CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrated that the web-based program, Bosom Buddies, was effective in reducing participants' scores on depression, perceived stress, and cancer-related trauma measures The effect size of the intervention was in the moderate range Although web-based social support groups offer many advantages, this delivery mechanism presents a number of ethical issues that need to be addressed Cancer 2003;97:1164–73 © 2003 American Cancer Society
DOI 101002/cncr11174read more
Citations
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Why Are Health Care Interventions Delivered Over the Internet? A Systematic Review of the Published Literature
TL;DR: Evaluation of the effectiveness of a health care intervention delivered by the Internet needs to include comparison with more traditional modes of delivery to answer the following question: What are the added benefits or disadvantages of Internet use that are particular to this mode of delivery?
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The Delivery of Public Health Interventions via the Internet: Actualizing Their Potential
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the effectiveness of Internet interventions, with particular attention to their dissemination potential, and discuss several considerations (characterizing reach rates, minimizing attrition, promoting Web site utilization, use of tailored messaging and social networking) that may improve the implementation of internet interventions and their associated outcomes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Influences, usage, and outcomes of Internet health information searching: multivariate results from the Pew surveys.
TL;DR: The strongest and most consistent influences on ever, or more frequently, using the Internet to search for health information were sex (female), employment (not fulltime), engaging in more other Internet activities, more specific health reasons, and helping another deal with health issues.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Impact of the Internet on Cancer Outcomes
TL;DR: A meta-analysis of 24 published surveys showed that about 39% of persons with cancer are using the Internet, and approximately 2.3 million persons living with cancer worldwide are online.
Book
The Network Society: From Knowledge to Policy
Manuel Castells,Gustavo Cardoso +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the patterns and dynamics of the network society through its policies, focusing on the knowledge economy, based on technology and innovation, to organizational reform and modernization in the public sector.
References
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TL;DR: The concepts of power analysis are discussed in this paper, where Chi-square Tests for Goodness of Fit and Contingency Tables, t-Test for Means, and Sign Test are used.
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The CES-D Scale: A Self-Report Depression Scale for Research in the General Population
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