Work

Online communication and support for cancer patients: a relationship-centric design framework.

Year: 2005

Type: article

Abstract: Dealing with a cancer diagnosis and cancer treatment involves communication among clinicians, patients, families, friends and others affected by the illness. The hypothesis of this research is that an informatics system can effectively support the communication needs of cancer patients and their informal caregivers. Two design frameworks for online cancer communication are defined and compared. One is centered primarily on the users' interpersonal relationships, and the other is centered on the clinical data and cancer information. Five types of clinical and supportive relationships were identified and supported by in-depth interviews with cancer patients and their informal caregivers. Focusing the design of an online cancer communication system around the interpersonal relationships of patients and families may be an important step towards designing more effective paradigms for online cancer care and support.

Source: Europe PMC (PubMed Central)

Authors: Jacob B Weiss, Nancy M Lorenzi

Institution: Vanderbilt University

Language: English

Topic: Health Literacy and Information Accessibility

Subfield: General Health Professions

Field: Health Professions

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: U.S. National Library of Medicine

Award: Vanderbilt Biomedical Informatics Training Program