Women on the Web

Title: Women on the Web

Funded By: The Nathan Cummings Foundation

Status: Completed

Overview: This innovative program benefits young children and their caregivers in underserved communities through development and dissemination of an interactive, multi-media curriculum on use of the Internet to access health-related information. The goals of the program are to promote empowerment, sense of self as locus of control, and improved patient-physician communication for pregnant teens and mothers of young children from culturally diverse and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds by increasing access to information and use of computers and the Internet.

The program works through a combination of focus groups to gain community input on course curriculum and structure, small structured learning sessions, and the availability of ongoing tutorials through community members who have been trained as Internet Facilitators. The course curriculum emphasizes use of the Internet to find quality information on targeted topics such as pregnancy, child nutrition and safety and asthma. Participants are also taught how to identify quality web sites, evaluate information they find there, and encouraged to discuss pertinent information with their healthcare providers.

Presentations:
Patients on the Web: A Model Program to Improve Access to Health Information in Underserved Communities (APHA 2001)
Benefits of Internet Access for Pregnant Women: Results from a Pilot Study (APHA 2002)

Research Team:
Gala True, PhD, Project Director
Natalie Brown, Program Coordinator