I received an email the other day containing the following question:
Are you aware of any randomized trials – in progress, or published – that examined the impact of social networking web 2.0, etc. on patient-level variables (e.g., improved rates of preventive health care, cancer screening, diabetes care, etc)?
My answer:
I haven’t done a recent literature search, but if I did, I’d start at the following sites:
http://www.ictconsequences.net/refbase/
http://www.innovations.ahrq.gov/
I would also look at the presenters and innovators affiliated with these organizations and events:
http://www.connected-health.org/
http://www.medicine20congress.com/ocs/index.php/med/med2011
Let’s help out this researcher. Where else would you look for publications or reports of trials in progress? Please add them in the comments.
Check out the journal Health Affairs: http://www.healthaffairs.org/
Thanks for making the jump from Twitter, Eric! I find that those @ replies disappear so quickly, whereas these blog comments will last.
For example, just this week I referred back to 2 posts’ comments to look up some work that was referenced:
What people living with disability can teach us
http://e-patients.net/archives/2011/01/what-people-living-with-disability-can-teach-us.html
and
“They never took his sock off”: a parable of patient empowerment, resourcefulness, and literacy
http://e-patients.net/archives/2010/12/they-never-took-his-sock-off-a-parable-of-patient-empowerment-resourcefulness-and-literacy.html
But tweets from that long ago are, well, long gone.
> tweets from that long ago are, well, long gone.
Lately I’ve been saying that tweets are like champagne bubbles. If you’re not there at the right moment, pop! You missed it.
(And that, btw, is why Twitter is not “micro-blogging,” as it used to be called.)
NIH announced late last year a series of trials testing technology’s role in helping young adults achieve healthy weights: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/nov2010/nhlbi-29.htm.
Seven trials are listed. You should be able to find many of them on http://www.clinicaltrials.gov, or through the links and contacts in the news release. From what I can tell by searching, as I don’t know personally, many of the trials are not yet recruiting.
For example:
SMART: A Social and Mobile Weight Control Program for Young Adults: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01200459
Choosing Healthy Options in College Environments and Settings (CHOICES): http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01134783
I feel like an idiot for not listing clinicaltrials.gov in the post — it’s the perfect place to start. Thanks so much, Erica!
From my Consumer Health informatics class:
Evaluation of an Internet Support Group for Women
with Primary Breast Cancer by Andrew J. Winzelberg et al 2002
Health related virtual communities and electronic support groups:
systematic review of the effects of online peer to peer interactions Gunther Eysenbach et al BMJ VOLUME 328 15 MAY 2004
More input from Twitter, since I can’t seem to get some folks to make the jump:
Patricia Levi, aka @songuest, wrote:
Look at JAMIA https://www.amia.org/mbrcenter/pubs/jamia
or CIN: http://www.nursingcenter.com/library/journalissue.asp?Journal_ID=54020&Issue_ID=1145187
Another vote came in for clinicaltrials.gov from Dianne Rees, aka @Callooh:
Wld actually try the clinicaltrials.gov database….http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=social+media
I am working on a graduate thesis examining mobile messaging efforts for teens of color with Type 2 diabetes, and I think these resources may be helpful for your needs:
CDC’s social media toolkit with good references at the end
http://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/ToolsTemplates/SocialMediaToolkit_BM.pdf
Online social networking by patients with diabetes: a qualitative evaluation of communication with Facebook
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20945113
What social media offers to health professionals and citizens(good references at the end)
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/87/8/09-066712/en/
A really helpful database
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
Dyanne, thanks so much! I really appreciate your taking the time to comment – as I do all the other people who have commented here and on Twitter. This is what I’m all about – building a research community that learns & shares together.
Thanks, Susannah. Happy to help–I have huge respect for your work!