Web 2.0 Diabetes Portal Enhances Patient Information Retrieval and Disease Management

Forum should be open and providers should log in frequently

According to a study published recently in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, Web 2.0 portals have great potential for supporting patients, both young and old. Clinical practitioners should be educated further on the use of these helpful interactive web tools.

Web 2.0 allows users to develop and manage content, which is a big step from the earlier Web 1.0. Healthcare organizations such as the World Health Assembly have encouraged the use of Web 2.0 in developing interventions for vulnerable groups. Prior research suggested that children with diabetes needed better patient information and access to services; and that adults with the condition who interacted with Internet-based interventions had improved health, education, and quality of care. The authors of the current study were interested in this population and thus sought to assess patient and parent attitudes toward a local Swedish portal tailored to those with type 1 diabetes.

The portal, called Diabit, was developed over several years based on input from both patients and healthcare professionals. Launched in the spring of 2006, it contained diabetes-related information including educational videos and extensive text pages as well as social networking functions like message boards and blogs. Diabit was targeted toward both adolescents and parents. For patients younger than age 12 years, the portal was targeted at parents. A total of 16 mothers, 3 fathers, and 5 young patients (ages 11 to 18 years) completed an essay on their experiences using the portal over a period of about 2 years. They were asked two main questions, about their subjective successes and failures using the site, and their responses were coded using qualitative content analysis.

The authors found that participant attitudes toward Diabit could be categorized into three main groups: the management tool, the generator, and the gatekeeper. As a disease management tool, respondents said they were able to search for and find information relevant to them and that they trusted the information they found. They especially valued being able to find answers to difficult questions focusing on sensitive areas, such as anxiety and fear. As a generator, they valued the ability for the portal to generate more information than expected as well as their own ability to share information that was mediated by other users. The respondents also viewed the portal as a gatekeeper, which to them was negative. They expressed difficulty logging in and following password procedures.

Overall, the test group found Diabit to be very informative and helpful. They suggested having a more open forum to reduce password issues and the feeling of stigmatization; they also suggested having providers log in frequently to update information and show that they are invested in the patient’s progress.

Source: Nordfeldt S, Hanberger L, Bertero C. 2010. Patient and parent views on a Web 2.0 diabetes portal – the management tool, the generator, and the gatekeeper: qualitative study. Journal of Medical Internet Research 12(2):e17.