‘The Web is changing the way we live our lives, affecting our attitudes and behaviours. The consequences of the Web for healthcare is profound, changing the expectations of patients and confronting professionals with new challenges. The image in the popular media is of hard-pressed doctors besieged by patients waving Web-printout. Yet such simplification disguises a much more complex pattern of change where increasing diversity of behaviour is the key change.’

In this project we explore how patients, carers and professionals use of the Web for health-related material affects patient attitudes, patient-professional interaction, treatment selection and health outcomes.

Widespread use of the Web and the corresponding access to a diverse range of health-related information and services impacts on the healthcare system in many ways.

We will provide a detailed analysis of ‘cybermedicine’, which can be used to help redefine the nature and parameters of the healthcare encounter for the benefit of patients, carers and healthcare professionals in the future.

The research, funded by National Institute for Health Research Service Delivery and Organisation, aims to help determine future NHS policy and strategic planning, and improve organisation and service delivery, training and development, by answering the following questions:

1. How and why do consumers use the Web for healthcare information and services? 
2. How does this affect their behaviour and health status?  
3. What is the Web’s impact on patient self-management, decision making and health behaviour?  
4. What is the impact on patient-professional interaction arising from patient access to healthcare information on the Web?
5. What is the degree of inequity in access to, and acceptability of, the Web for health advice and information by people of different ages, gender, socio-economic class and ethnicity?  

We are using diverse data gathering techniques, starting with surveys of the ‘general population’ and targeted respondents with the tracker conditions: cancer (breast and prostate), diabetes and depression. At the heart of the research will be a study tracking patients and professionals over time, focusing on the impact of the Web on patient and professional interactions. Further research on virtual health communities and health information quality and accessibility will follow.

There are several ways that you can take part in this research and have your view represented. Please see the 'Want To Take Part' panel on the right of this page.