Safe Surfing for Health Care Information: Chat rooms, message boards and newsgroups

Chat rooms, message boards and newsgroups

These technologies give people a chance to exchange information and support. Chat rooms are live and provide immediate responses from other participants, while message boards and newsgroups allow one to read and respond to messages posted previously. Many commercial sites offer both hosted chats and unmoderated discussion groups.

	Strengths
		Support from people who are personally dealing with the same problem or condition
		For those with especially rare problems, allows people living at distances to connect and share experiences
		Well-suited for sharing information about day-to-day challenges or practical coping methods

Weaknesses

What works for one won’t necessarily be right for others.

Medical expertise or oversight is often lacking. Information shared can be wrong or misleading.

False hope can be generated by well-intentioned and uninformed participants.

People who are vulnerable may be targeted by charlatans offering unproven cures or treatments.

Examples:
Ask the Expert: Breastfeeding Forum
Yale-New Haven Hospital offers a message board where breastfeeding mothers can ask questions of lacation consultants and also read their answers to the questions of others.

WebMD message boards
Some of these member-to-member boards have a health expert who answers posts. The boards are intended to be supportive environments where people may discuss issues that matter to them. Specific message boards are geared to everyone from parents who have a child recently diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) to women with uterine or cervical cancer.

Usenet newsgroups
Usenet is not for the computer neophyte. It is an informal collection of discussion groups, not owned or managed by any organization. For an explanation of Usenet, see Usenet Frequently Asked Questions. You can post to an existing group, or create your own. To browse a list of discussion groups, go to www.ibiblio.org/usenet-i/hier-s/top.html. To search for a group by keyword, go to www.ibiblio.org/usenet-i/search.html.

Last revised: March 09, 2004