ABSTRACT

Use of the Internet as a source of health information continues to soar with the popularity of the Internet. It is estimated that the number of adults who use the Internet for health-related information increased from 60 million in 1999 (Fox & Raine, 2001) to 97 million in 2001 (Harris Interactive, 2001). Researchers believe that this new technology can help transform both personal and public health (Eng & Gustafson, 1999; Sonnenberg, 1997). The increased reliance on the Internet, however, has also raised concerns about the quality and ease of retrieving relevant health information (Biermann, Golladay, Greenfield, & Baker, 2000; Kassirer, 1995; Widman & Tong, 1997). A recent study concluded, for example, that searching for health information on the Internet is not efficient and that the coverage is often poor (Berland et al., 2001).