Freedom or Folly? Canadians and the Consumption of Online Health Information
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20509404 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Faiza Hirji (0000-0003-1277-7688, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 445-465 |
| Publication date | 2004-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Information Communication & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1369-118X • E-ISSN: 1468-4462 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/1369118042000305593 |
| OpenAlex | W2045438371 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
The concept of e-health has come to assume a key place within a larger Canadian governmental discourse that lauds the benefits of supplying Internet-based services to as wide an audience as possible. In order to fulfil its vision of a connected public accessing services cheaply and easily through electronic media, the federal government has assumed that the potential exists for all Canadians to use the Internet and has done its best to achieve this result through programmes aimed at ameliorating accessibility issues. There is particular enthusiasm over the possibility of moving some health services online, thus reducing costs incurred through personal patient-practitioner meetings while ostensibly creating more informed, proactive and healthy Canadians. This paper discusses whether or not the enthusiasm of the government, and of individual users, regarding e-health practices is merited, focussing particularly on the consumption of online health information by patients. Numerous consequences and conflicts can accompany such practices, but this paper specifically addresses the negative aspects of promoting informed health choices through a medium inaccessible to all members of Canadian society, such as the aged, the poor, rural dwellers and some ethnic minorities. The paper also assesses the potential risks of acting upon incorrect information provided online and addresses the possibility that health professionals' workloads will increase rather than decrease. However, as this paper also notes, e-health does contain potential for improving the delivery of medical services in Canada if contained within clearly defined parameters, and if alternatives still exist for those who cannot or will not benefit from such technology. Keywords: Internetonline health informationaccessdigital dividee-healthCanadian health care
Business · Enthusiasm · Ethnic group · Internet privacy · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · The Internet · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Health Literacy and Information Accessibility · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology
Rose-Coloured Glasses
The Graying of “Sexual Health”
Normalcy, Boundaries, and Heterosexism
How Health Status Impacts the Types of Information Consumers Seek Online
The mundane realities of the everyday lay use of the internet for health, and their consequences for media convergence
The devil you know
How Connected are Canadians? Inequities in Canadian Households’ Internet Access
The Separate Spheres of Online Health
Communal Normalization in an Online Self-Help Group for Adolescents With a Mentally Ill Parent
The potential of the internet for alternative caring practices for health
| Citations per year | 0.48 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2005 - 2014 (10) |
| Highly cited | No |