This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (92)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Informatics/ Internet in Medicine  • Internet  • Patient-Physician Relationship/ Care  • Patient Education/ Health Literacy  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

A Public Highway or a Private Road?

Thomas R. Eng, VMD, MPH; Andrew Maxfield, PhD; Kevin Patrick, MD, MS; Mary Jo Deering, PhD; Scott C. Ratzan, MD, MPA, MA; David H. Gustafson, PhD

JAMA. 1998;280:1371-1375.

Information and communication technologies may help reduce health disparities through their potential for promoting health, preventing disease, and supporting clinical care for all. Unfortunately, those who have preventable health problems and lack health insurance coverage are the least likely to have access to such technologies. Barriers to access include cost, geographic location, illiteracy, disability, and factors related to the capacity of people to use these technologies appropriately and effectively. A goal of universal access to health information and support is proposed to augment existing initiatives to improve the health of individuals and the public. Both public- and private-sector stakeholders, particularly government agencies and private corporations, will need to collaboratively reduce the gap between the health information "haves" and "have-nots." This will include supporting health information technology access in homes and public places, developing applications for the growing diversity of users, funding research on access-related issues, ensuring the quality of health information and support, enhancing literacy in health and technology, training health information intermediaries, and integrating the concept of universal access to health information and support into health planning processes.

From the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (Drs Eng and Deering) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Dr Maxfield), US Department of Health and Human Services, and the Academy for Educational Development (Dr Ratzan), Washington, DC; Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, Calif (Dr Patrick); Department of Family Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Medford, Mass (Dr Ratzan); and the Departments of Industrial Engineering and Preventive Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison (Dr Gustafson).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Health information for patients: time to look beyond patient information leaflets
Colledge et al.
JRSM 2008;101:447-453.
FULL TEXT  

Parents of Deaf Children Seeking Hearing Loss-Related Information on the Internet: the Australian Experience
Porter and Edirippulige
J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ 2007;12:518-529.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Interactive Behavior Change Technology to Support Diabetes Self-Management: Where do we stand?
Piette
Diabetes Care 2007;30:2425-2432.
FULL TEXT  

Inequities in Screening for Sexually Transmitted Infections in African American Adolescents: Can Health Policy Help?
Roberson
J Transcult Nurs 2007;18:286-291.
ABSTRACT  

The Roles of Patients' Internet Use for Cancer Information and Socioeconomic Status in Oncologist-Patient Communication
Welch Cline et al.
J Oncol Pract 2007;3:167-171.
FULL TEXT  

Use of Computer Kiosks for Breast Cancer Education in Five Community Settings
Kreuter et al.
Health Educ Behav 2006;33:625-642.
ABSTRACT  

A Community-Based Participatory Health Information Needs Assessment to Help Eliminate Diabetes Information Disparities
Carlson et al.
Health Promot Pract 2006;7:213S-222S.
ABSTRACT  

Process evaluation of an innovative healthy eating website promoting the Mediterranean diet
Papadaki and Scott
Health Educ Res 2006;21:206-218.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Trust and Sources of Health Information: The Impact of the Internet and Its Implications for Health Care Providers: Findings From the First Health Information National Trends Survey
Hesse et al.
Arch Intern Med 2005;165:2618-2624.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Promoting Health Literacy
McCray
J. Am. Med. Inform. Assoc. 2005;12:152-163.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Use of e-Health Services between 1999 and 2002: A Growing Digital Divide
Hsu et al.
J. Am. Med. Inform. Assoc. 2005;12:164-171.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Internet and Psychoactive Substance Use Among Innovative Drug Users
Boyer et al.
Pediatrics 2005;115:302-305.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

How Can the Internet Help Parents of Children With Rare Neurologic Disorders?
Leonard et al.
J Child Neurol 2004;19:902-907.
ABSTRACT  

Patients' Interest in Reading Their Medical Record: Relation With Clinical and Sociodemographic Characteristics and Patients' Approach to Health Care
Fowles et al.
Arch Intern Med 2004;164:793-800.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Public Librarians as a Resource for Promoting Health: Results from the Health for Everyone in Libraries Project (HELP) Librarian Survey
Linnan et al.
Health Promot Pract 2004;5:182-190.
ABSTRACT  

How the internet affects patients' experience of cancer: a qualitative study
Ziebland et al.
BMJ 2004;328:564.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Shortcomings of health information on the Internet
Benigeri and Pluye
HEALTH PROMOT INT 2003;18:381-386.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Measuring the Relevance of Evaluation Criteria among Health Information Seekers on the Internet
Barnes et al.
J Health Psychol 2003;8:71-82.
ABSTRACT  

Communities of Care and Caring: The Case of MSWatch.com(R)
Weis et al.
J Health Psychol 2003;8:135-148.
ABSTRACT  

Consumer health information seeking on the Internet: the state of the art
Cline and Haynes
Health Educ Res 2001;16:671-692.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Adolescent Cybersurfing for Health Information: A New Resource That Crosses Barriers
Borzekowski and Rickert
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2001;155:813-817.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Health education and the digital divide: building bridges and filling chasms
Bernhardt
Health Educ Res 2000;15:527-531.
FULL TEXT  

The Future of Health Promotion: TalkinTM Technology Blues
Wang
Health Promot Pract 2000;1:77-80.
ABSTRACT  

Published criteria for evaluating health related web sites: review
Kim et al.
BMJ 1999;318:647-649.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Interactive Multimedia and Risk Communication
Strecher et al.
J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr 1999;1999:134-139.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

An Evidence-Based Approach to Interactive Health Communication: A Challenge to Medicine in the Information Age
Robinson et al.
JAMA 1998;280:1264-1269.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT