Today's Women Going Online For Their Health, Says Intel Survey

Tech Leader Sees Need for Quality Sites Dedicated to Consumers

New York, N.Y., Oct. 6, 1999 -- The Internet represents a unique development in women's health, offering an unprecedented ability to disseminate information, turn computer users into online "communities" and empower women to take a more active role in their own and their families' health care. But who is today's online health care consumer? What is she looking for when she logs onto the Internet in search of answers to health questions? More importantly, how does she evaluate the health information found in cyberspace? Intel Corporation's 1999 Online Health Survey offers some insights.

This year, 17.5 million Americans will log onto the Internet seeking health information.* Meanwhile, Intel's survey suggests that over half of these are women. For these legions of online health care consumers, education about health-related matters is the leading reason that they turn to the Internet. More than half of respondents to the Intel survey indicated that they use the Internet to get information about health topics in general. The second most frequently cited category was disease-specific education. Over 40% of respondents went to the Internet primarily for this kind of information.

Says Deb Cablao, Intel's Internet Health program manager, "These numbers show that there is a real need for the most current and credible health information online. Intel is working with the healthcare industry to highlight quality health Web sites and encourage consumers to look to the Internet as a health resource."

Identifying The Best Health Info Online
The Intel survey shows that online healthcare consumers already use common sense in evaluating health information online. Over 40% of women said they looked for a credible health affiliation before trusting the information they find on a Web site. However, in the absence of a recognized health affiliation, consumers may feel they have little basis for judging whether the information on a web site is accurate. Only 5.4% of women surveyed said that their trust in a health Web site was based on feeling that the information it contained was accurate.

Intel's survey also suggests that, perhaps because Internet health is an evolving phenomenon, few health web sites have emerged as top-of-mind leaders among women. Nearly half of the women surveyed said they did not know which health web sites they'd visited. One possible explanation may be that consumers tend to search randomly for health information online, rather than go to the Internet with particular Web sites in mind.

Online Support Groups Gain Importance
Women have historically been active in creating groups for educational and social support in the health care arena. Not surprisingly, support web sites constitute the third most important category of online health information for women surveyed by Intel. Many, like Mothers Supporting Daughters With Breast Cancer (MSDBC), www.azstarnet.com/~pud/msdbc/, are started at the grass-roots level by women who found the Internet to be a unique networking resource.

"The Internet possesses an amazing ability to network women dealing with serious illnesses," says Lillie Shockney, who founded the MSDBC Web site. "Our site is designed to educate women about the latest treatment options for breast cancer and enable moms and daughters living with this disease to talk to others who have been there."

Internet Health Resources
Intel relies on qualified medical experts to help identify sites offering current and credible information and assessment tools. Women may find it particularly helpful to learn about sites covering the most significant women's health issues, such as breast and reproductive health, diet and nutrition, cardiovascular health and stress. Some quality sites include: CyberDiet www.cyberdiet.com/, Allhealth.com www.allhealth.com/womens/, Mothers Supporting Daughters with Breast Cancer www.azstarnet.com/~pud/msdbc/ and SelfCare www.selfcare.com.

* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.