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BACKGROUND: Turmeric is a root with curcumin and non-curcumin derivatives that serve as antioxidants, which reduce the risk of oxidative stress-induced chronic disease. The provision of health information has shown to increase the acceptability of functional foods that impart unfamiliar flavors. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the acceptability and sensory qualities of a functional beverage with fresh turmeric, and the impact of information related to the beverage's health benefits on acceptability. This study also investigated personal and psychological factors associated with food acceptance. METHODS: Antioxidant capacity (ferrous equivalents) and polyphenolic content were evaluated in a fruit-based beverage containing 0g, 7g, 14g, and 22g of fresh turmeric. Sixty-one individuals were recruited to participate in a sensory evaluation of two fruit-based beverages with and without fresh turmeric. Thirty-one participants were given health information related to the beverage and 30 participants received no health information. The degree of liking was measured on a hedonic scale and sensory attributes were measured using a Just About Right (JAR) scale. Food choice motives and demographic characteristics were measured using a Food Choice Questionnaire and demographics questionnaire. RESULTS: The development of a functional beverage with 14 grams of turmeric was considered significantly more acceptable with the provision of health information and resulted in a significant increase in antioxidant capacity and polyphenolic content. There was a significant difference in acceptability scores of the functional beverage across antioxidant interest groups and health motivation groups. / Master of Science

Yes / Objective To assess the quality, readability and coverage of website information about herbal remedies for menopausal symptoms. Study design A purposive sample of commercial and non-commercial websites was assessed for quality (DISCERN), readability (SMOG) and information coverage. Main outcome measures Non-parametric and parametric tests were used to explain the variability of these factors across types of websites and to assess associations between website quality and information coverage. Results 39 sites were assessed. Median quality and information coverage scores were 44/80 and 11/30 respectively. The median readability score was 18.7, similar to UK broadsheets. Commercial websites scored significantly lower on quality (p = 0.014), but there were no statistical differences for information coverage or readability. There was a significant positive correlation between information quality and coverage scores irrespective of website provider (r = 0.69, p < 0.001, n = 39). Conclusion Overall website quality and information coverage are poor and the required reading level high.

The growth of e-health system has influenced the way health organizations conducttheir business. Communication between these systems is one of the most significantfactors since a more efficient communication system can improve an organizationperformance. Nowadays the health organizations make a lot of investments to deploya suitable information and communication technology to meet their goals.This study investigates the health information exchange within different healthinformation systems. We first carried out a theoretical study to find out the relevantconcepts by reviewing the related literature and analyzing them. As a result of ourtheoretical study we investigate and redesign the basic model of the “Super Clinic” asa new model for health information exchange system. Then we conducted anempirical study to validate the result from the theoretical study which helped us tonarrow down our research area. We revised our proposed theoretical model by thelesson learnt from our empirical study results. Three interviews were conducted withexperts and the outcomes were analyzed using comparative analysis. These interviewsallowed us to outline the most important factors of successful health informationexchange systems (i.e. “Super Clinic”).They also helped us to design a central hub (i.e. “health Hub”) for communicationand information exchange between different information systems. This revised modelof Super Clinic (with the central hub) could be going under more investigation infuture works. / Program: Masterutbildning i Informatik

Background. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Low survival rates have been attributed to delays to diagnosis, and some patients report having symptoms for several months before presenting to health services. Strategies are needed to encourage timely help-seeking. The Web is increasingly used as a health information source. Aim. The aim of this thesis is to explore whether the Web plays a role in help-seeking behaviour of people with lung cancer prior to diagnosis, and how the Web can be utilised to encourage earlier presentation to health services for symptomatic people. Systematic review. To begin, I carried out a systematic review of the literature (N=34), which highlighted a scarcity of research on Web use for symptom appraisal among cancer populations. Mixed-methods study. I conducted a survey with recently diagnosed (6 months or less) lung cancer patients (N=113). Based on survey responses, I purposively selected a sub-sample of patients and their family/friends ("proxies") for semi-structured interviews (N=33). In the survey, 20.4% of participants reported they or proxies had researched their condition online before the diagnosis. Interview results suggest perceived impacts of online information on symptom appraisal, forming the decision to seek help, and on interactions with healthcare professionals. Intervention development and evaluation. Based on my findings, I developed a Web-based intervention. The intervention provides tailored information about lung cancer, and uses components based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour ("TPB-components") to encourage earlier help-seeking. This intervention was tested in an online feasibility study (N=130), and subsequently in an online randomised controlled trial (N=212) with a factorial design to test main and interaction effects of tailoring and TPB-components. The feasibility study and first trial helped identify methodological issues which were addressed in a second trial with a mixed factorial design. This trial (N=253) indicated that the self-reported likelihood of visiting a doctor increased significantly by 11.8% from before to after viewing study information (p < 0.001), but no effects of tailoring or TPB-components were found. When examining only those aged ≥50 years, who are at highest risk of lung cancer, those receiving tailored information reported an increase of 13.2% in likelihood of seeking help, compared to 3.2% in the untailored group (p=0.01). Participants aged 50+ receiving the TPB-component reported a larger increase (13.8%) than those who did not receive the TPB-component (5.2%), but this did not meet the significance criterion (p=0.054). Conclusions. According to patients' perceptions, the Web can impact on processes in the appraisal, help-seeking and diagnostic interval leading up to diagnosis. Presentation of information about symptoms and risk factors online can produce significant effects on self-reported likelihood of seeking help. These findings indicate that there is potential for the Web to be utlised in the endeavour to educate the public about symptoms and to promote earlier presentation to health services, but due to small effects and differential dropout in this study, further research is required.

Trust for health care professionals (interpersonal trust) and the health care system (institutional trust) is imperative for the performance of health care systems. However, at the same time, contemporary societies today are characterised by decreasing levels of trust and citizens today are increasingly inclined to seek health information from sources beyond health care professionals. Sociologists have argued that societal institutions, such as the health care system, are subject to individuals’ increasing mistrust, which has created a “critical distance” between lay citizens and modern medicine. In this critical distance, the health care system and its representatives are continually questioned why citizens’ trust for the medical institution can not be taken for granted. Because individuals living in the modern society are more inclined to take control over their health by engaging in health information seeking behaviour, the present study aims to examine whether there exists an association between interpersonal and institutional trust and differences in health information seeking behaviour. This study focuses on the Swedish context, where decreasing levels of trust for societal institutions - including the health care system, have been reported. Multivariate logistic regression analysis using data from European Social Survey (2004) was utilised to answer the research questions “Is the degree of trust for the health care system in Sweden associated with individuals' health information seeking behaviours?” and “Is the degree of trust for health care professionals in Sweden associated with individuals' health information seeking behaviours?”. The majority of the results from this study were not statistically significant, why the null hypothesis can not be ruled out. More recently collected data and more representative operationalisations of variables might generate more valid results. The study topic provides a potentially fruitful and valuable route for future scientific research, why it is considered important to further investigate whether mistrust for the healthcare system and its experts motivates individuals to consult alternative sources rather than health care professionals when seeking health information.

<p>Pregnancy is one of the most important periods of a woman’s life, during which lots of potentially worrying changes occur in her body. Being aware of the nature of these changes can help her to make informed decisions and decrease her level of uncertainty and anxiety. Delivering information to pregnant women to help understand these changes is not a new idea. Brief searches of the web turned up many related resources and information. One important aspect of pregnancy that was found to be widely used was keeping daily records in a paper-based format. However, to the author’s best knowledge, there is no pregnancy specific electronic personal health record (ePHR) currently being used in Canada. In this study, a preliminary pregnancy specific PHR module was developed, and its usefulness and usability evaluated.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

Since the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act was enacted, healthcare providers are required to achieve “Meaningful Use.” CPOE (Clinical Provider Order Entry), is one such requirement. Many providers prefer to dictate their orders rather than typing them. Medical vocabulary is wrought with its own terminology and department-specific acronyms, and many ASR (Automated Speech Recognition) systems are not trained to interpret this language. The purpose of this thesis research was to investigate the use and effectiveness of ASR in the healthcare industry. Multiple hospitals and multiple clinicians agreed to be followed through their use of an ASR system to enter patient data into the record. As a result of this research, the effectiveness and use of the ASR was examined, and multiple issues with the use and accuracy of the system were uncovered.

This thesis addresses the implications of Australian and South Australian government policies for the provision of online health information. It focuses on subjective meanings about internet use and access by questioning the use of information and communications technology (ICT) for health information. It analyses egalitarian approaches by government entities for universal access and explores how the phenomenon of the internet is claimed to be a potential conduit for social inclusion to reduce health inequalities.

Abstract The aim of this thesis was twofold: firstly, to increase understanding about the user of health information; namely about differences of users´ characteristics of health information behaviour, and secondly, to contribute to the research on factors that could be used as bases to tailor health information. Health information behaviour was scrutinised as information needs and seeking and information use in particular. It was also studied in relation to individuals´ physical health status. More studies on information use are needed, because understanding individual characteristics in issues related to information use has been considered critical for promoting healthy behaviours. Moreover, the thesis addressed the gap in research on the relationship between health information behaviour and tailoring health information. The thesis consists of three empirical studies and a literature review. The empirical research environments were provided by an intervention study aiming to prevent type&#160;2 diabetes among a high risk population and by a population-based study among military conscription aged men. The setting was the City of Oulu in Northern Finland with the University of Oulu and the Oulu Deaconess Institute as the main operators of the studies. The empirical data were collected through questionnaires as well as through physiological and biochemical measurements during years 2010 and 2011. The data were analysed with statistical methods. Moreover, a literature review of tailored interventions studies using a computer as the medium of delivery in the context of physical activity, nutrition and weight management, was conducted. The findings indicate differences in health information users´ characteristics related to their information use as such and in relation to the indicators of their physical health status. It is suggested that, for example, health information presentation could be tailored on the basis of found differences and different message strategies and tactics could be used for different kinds of individuals. In addition, in the literature review the biases of tailored intervention studies stood out as influential on their outcomes. The thesis contributes to the current field of research on both health information behaviour and tailoring health communication. Moreover, the findings can support the development of more effective health promotion programs and intervention studies. / Tiivistelmä Väitöskirjatutkimukseni tavoitteena on lisätä ymmärrystä terveystiedon käyttäjistä ja erityisesti heidän terveysinformaatiokäyttäytymiseensä liittyvistä ominaisuuksista. Tutkimukseni tuottaa tietoa tekijöistä, joita voidaan käyttää terveystiedon räätälöinnin lähtökohtana. Terveysinformaatiokäyttäytymistä tarkastelen tiedontarpeiden ja -hankinnan sekä erityisesti tiedon käytön näkökulmasta. Informaatiokäyttäytymistä tutkitaan myös suhteessa tiedon käyttäjän fyysiseen terveydentilaan. Tutkimukseni vastaa tarpeeseen tutkia tiedon käyttäjiä, sillä tiedon käyttöön liittyvien yksilöllisten ominaisuuksien ymmärtäminen on keskeistä terveyden edistämisessä. Väitöskirja tuottaa uutta tietoa myös informaatiokäyttäytymisen ja terveystiedon räätälöinnin välisestä suhteesta. Väitöskirjani käsittää neljä osajulkaisua: kolme empiiristä tutkimusta ja kirjallisuuskatsauksen. Empiiriset tutkimukset toteutettiin tyypin&#160;2 diabeteksen ehkäisyyn tähtäävän interventiotutkimuksen (PreDiabEx) ja väestöpohjaisen tutkimuksen (MOPO) tarjoamissa tutkimusympäristöissä. Tutkimusten kohteina olivat miehet ja naiset, joiden riski sairastua tyypin&#160;2 diabetekseen oli korkea sekä kutsuntaikäiset miehet. Tutkimukset toteutettiin Oulussa ja päätoteuttajia olivat Oulun yliopisto ja Oulun Diakonissalaitos. Empiirinen aineisto kerättiin kyselyillä sekä fysiologisilla ja biokemiallisilla terveydentilaa ilmaisevilla mittareilla vuosien 2010 ja 2011 aikana. Aineisto analysoitiin tilastollisesti. Kirjallisuuskatsauksessa analysoidaan fyysisen aktiivisuuden, ravitsemuksen ja painonhallinnan interventiotutkimuksia, joissa tarkastellaan terveystiedon räätälöinnin vaikuttavuutta silloin, kun tiedonvälitykseen käytetään tietokonetta. Empiiristen tutkimusten tulokset viittaavat siihen, että niin terveystiedonkäyttäjien ominaisuuksissa informaatiokäyttäytymisessä kuin sen suhteessa heidän fyysisen terveydentilaansa on eroja. Terveystietoa tulisikin esittää eri tavoin erilaisille ihmisille, muun muassa erilaisia viestistrategioita ja -taktiikoita käyttäen. Kirjallisuuskatsauksen tulokset lisäsivät ymmärrystä siitä, miten tutkimusasetelman vinoumat voivat vaikuttaa interventiotutkimusten tuloksiin.