Consumers of Internet Health Information

Many websites on the Internet offer information for
consumers. With regard to healthcare, individuals
are increasingly utilizing the abundance of this
health and medical information available. This
information can potentially impact the psychological
health of these individuals who are concerned about
their illness. This book is about the experience of
women with breast cancer who searched the Internet
for information. Data were collected and analyzed
to help understand how this Internet information
impacted these women with breast cancer. Greater
social support was the main impact of using this
Internet information. Also, this experience of
greater social support was not only beneficial for
whites but also even more beneficial for
minorities. These psychological benefits occurred
with only a minimal weekly time commitment of
searching for and using this Internet information.
The analyses reported and discussed in this book are
useful to those from a number of fields including
Psychology, Marketing, Communication, Counseling,
Oncology, Public Health, Consumer Behavior,
Advertising, E-health, and E-commerce.

Autorentext
Joshua Fogel, PhD: Studied Clinical Health Psychology at Yeshiva University. Postdoctoral Fellowship in Psychiatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Johns Hopkins University. Assistant Professor at the Business Program in the Department of Economics at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, Brooklyn, New York.

Klappentext
Many websites on the Internet offer information for consumers. With regard to healthcare, individuals are increasingly utilizing the abundance of this health and medical information available. This information can potentially impact the psychological health of these individuals who are concerned about their illness. This book is about the experience of women with breast cancer who searched the Internet for information. Data were collected and analyzed to help understand how this Internet information impacted these women with breast cancer. Greater social support was the main impact of using this Internet information. Also, this experience of greater social support was not only beneficial for whites but also even more beneficial for minorities. These psychological benefits occurred with only a minimal weekly time commitment of searching for and using this Internet information. The analyses reported and discussed in this book are useful to those from a number of fields including Psychology, Marketing, Communication, Counseling, Oncology, Public Health, Consumer Behavior, Advertising, E-health, and E-commerce.