The Article in Brief

Background One challenge medical professionals face in helping patients adopt healthy behaviors, such as exercise and stopping smoking, is connecting them with high-quality information. This study looked at whether patients were more likely to pursue healthy behaviors if they were referred to a Web site with health information and resources that were tailored to their specific needs.

What This Study Found An interactive Web site can be an effective tool to encourage patients to pursue healthy behaviors. Medical practices face challenges, however, in fostering use of such a Web site: although patients in this study expressed interest in the site, only a small percentage actually visited it.

Implications

• Web sites can help practices extend educational outreach beyond the time and place of the patient visit.
• Convenient access to the most appropriate information may help empower patients.
• An interactive Web site may be most effective as part of a set of tools designed to promote health behavior change.