Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Over 70% of people use the Internet to search for health information. Health websites normally present information as facts and figures about the signs and symptoms of an illness. Although facts can increase knowledge, studies say that health sites should also include people's experiences with their illness. People wish to understand their illness at a deeper level than just scientific facts. Through online groups, people can share their experiences and give advice to others. However, while there are benefits that may come from using patient experience sites, this type of information also has concerns. It is possible that people may trust incorrect information or may base health choices off of powerful, but irrelevant, stories. A McGill research team is developing a new website, www.healthexperiences.ca, that will show people's personal experiences with health and illness in Canada. The first section of this site will focus on experiences of caregiving. Given the potential for concern with this type of information, it will be necessary to evaluate what effect healthexperiences.ca has on caregivers. It will be important to see how different traits of caregivers influence how they respond to the website. In particular, an analysis will be carried out to assess how different caregiver ages, sex and gender, quality of life (QOL), hours spent caregiving per week, and years since beginning caregiving, predict a positive impression of the website. This information will be collected through surveys that will be given to 150 caregivers across Canada. QOL will be measured using the Adult Carer QOL Questionnaire. Caregiver's impressions of the website will be measured using the Information Assessment Method for Consumers. The results of this evaluation will inform us about what types of caregivers may benefit most after using the site. If this site has a positive impact on caregivers, then it may expand a caregiver's basic health knowledge and improve health outcomes.