I believe that, although very few people engage with their health on a daily or even weekly basis, it is important to understand what they do when their attention is focused on a health question.
Susannah Fox will provide data on the current internet population, with a particular focus on health communication, wireless adoption, social media, and implications for public health planning.
Social media is simply the current expression of patient activation and engagement. But this time e-patients are part of a larger cultural change that assumes access to information, enables communication among disparate groups, and expects progress.
From 2006 to 2008, internet use among Latino adults rose by 10 percentage points, from 54% to 64%, compared with a four percentage point rise among whites and a two percentage point rise among blacks.