The Rise of E-Health: Current Trends and Topics on Online Health Communications

Abstract

The increasing reliance on the internet by the healthcare community at large has been shaping the practice of health communication by opening ‘the way to the use of interactive health communications tools (for example, Web sites, Internet-based games, online press rooms, disease symptoms simulations, opinion polls, seminars, etc.), which are often designed as part of larger health communication interventions’.¹ Professional and personal blogs, podcasts, chat rooms and forums have also become a prominent source of health information among different kinds of audiences. E-health emerged as a general buzzword after 1999 and is defined as ‘a field in the intersection of medical informatics, public health and business, referring to health services and information delivered or enhanced through the Internet and related technologies’.^1,2 Ultimately, the internet is increasingly being perceived as an important communication channel and is functioning as some of the more established channels. This review of current trends and topics related to online health communication aims to highlight key factors that may affect the quality, use and audience-specific perception of online health communications as well as to providing examples of common internet uses by different kinds of health organisations. It also argues that internet-based interventions should still rely on the key mantras of strategic health communication and be part of an integrated approach with other communication areas and activities.