The Role of Market Research in Planning for a Consumer

Health Website

Julia SollenbergerBernie Todd-Smith

What Do Our Customers Really Want?

What do we want to do?

Project Mission

Provide all the people of the greater Rochester area with the high-quality information and resources they need to make wise lifestyle and healthcare choices so that Rochester can become a healthier community.

Primary Partners

• Libraries• Medical, Public, School,

Academic

• Health Agencies/Associations

• Healthcare delivery systems

• Educational Institutions

Health Information Services in Rochester

• Current State• Services are at varying levels

• Future State• Consistent, high quality services

Consistent, High-Quality Health Information

• Training

• Referral Network

• Web-based local health information

• Awareness/Publicity

• Measuring impact on health status of public

Funding for Implementation

• NNLM Planning and Implementation Grants

• LSTA Grant• CLIC and the City –

NNLM “Access to Electronic Health Information” Grant

Funding for Implementation

•Future Funding•New York State•Federal – Seniors CLIC proposal to be submitted to NLM June 1, 2003•Local Foundations•Corporations

Developing a Community-Wide Approach

to Consumer HealthIt Takes a Long Time to Grow

an Apple Tree

1999-2000Cooperation Established

2001-2002Cooperative Planning

2003-2004Joint Resources

Developed

The Future

•Expanded services/resources in competing hospitals•Received NLM grants in competing hospitals•Library council’s role as intermediary established•Held Many meetings

between hospital librarians

•Held More meetings with all groups•Received NNLM, NLM & LSTA Grants•Steering Committee & Teams formed•Held Forum•Awarded Ad Council Roundtable•Commissioned Market Research Study•Hired Project Director

•Benchmarked other programs•Completed Market Research•Website-software, content, usability•Trained public & school librarians, agency staff, school nurses (pilot), senior center staff (pilot)•Submit new grantsSeniors CLIC

Forum

Forum

• Held in public library

• Two hours• Convened by Deputy Director

of County Health Department• Local agencies recruited• Hired professional

moderator

Forum 96 Attendees

20%

6%

13%

10%

9%

33%

7%

Health Educators/Providers

Health Agency Staff

Public Librarians

School Librarians & Nurses

Health Sciences Librarians

Senior Center & Nursing Staff

Literacy educators, insurers & others

Website Recommendations

from Forum

• Features• Address different literacy levels• Usability regularly tested• Useful to disabled, visually

impaired• Current• High Quality• Interactive• Culturally sensitive

Website Recommendations

from Forum

•Content•One-stop shopping•Disease and Wellness Information•Support Groups•Complementary Medicine•Non-clinical Information (financial, legal, treatment coordination)•chat rooms

Team Formation

Teams

Training

Information Referral

Market Research/Publicity

Website

Evaluation

Forum

Forum Key Accomplishments

• Focused our ideas

• Identified key players from outside of medical library community

Website Recommendations

from Forum

•Content•One-stop shopping•Support Groups•Complementary Medicine•Disease and Wellness Information•Non-clinical Information•chat rooms

• Features Address different literacy

levels• Usability regularly tested• Useful to disabled,

visually impaired• Current• High Quality• Interactive• Culturally sensitive

Forum 96 Attendees

20%

6%

13%

10%

9%

33%

7%

Health Educators/Providers

Health Agency Staff

Public Librarians

School Librarians & Nurses

Health Sciences Librarians

Senior Center & Nursing Staff

Literacy educators, insurers & others

What’s Missing?

Benchmarking

Market SurveyObjectives

• What health issues are of highest interest?

• What sources of information have been used?

• What is the satisfaction level with these sources?

• What are seen as the advantages and disadvantages of using Internet sites for such information?

Market SurveyMethodology

• Random digit dialing • 300 households in Monroe

County• Limited to those with Internet

access• Screened out those who work in a

library, for a health care provider, or for a health insurance company

• Surveyed individuals UNLIKE those who attended the Forum

Market SurveyDemographics

• “Typical” User• Age 25-64 (85%)• White (88%)• Female (61%)• Income Level

$25,000 – 100,000 (64%)• With Internet Access at

Home (87%)

Do you use the Internet to look for health

information?

24%

76%Yes

No

Note: Overall Satisfaction Increases with age

How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the

availability and quality of health care information in

the Rochester area?

3=Fair15%

4=Poor4%

Don’t Know

3%

1=Excellent23%

2=Good55%

69%

65%

55%

49%

36%

30%

14%

0% 20% 100%40% 60% 80%

Obtaining information on how to stay healthy, such as exercise or nutrition

Learning about a specific disease, illness, or injuries

Getting definitions of medical terms

Learning about drugs and natural remedies

Finding information about aging or senior citizens health issues

Finding support groups

Calendar of local events related to health and wellness

Percent of those who have a need for the following types of information frequently or

occasionally

37%

58%

62%

42%

30%

13%

20%

0% 20% 100%40% 60% 80%

Obtaining information on how to stay healthy, such as exercise or nutrition

Learning about a specific disease, illness, or injuries

Getting definitions of medical terms

Learning about drugs and natural remedies

Finding information about aging or senior citizens health issues

Finding support groups

Calendar of local events related to health and wellness

Use of Internet to obtain this kind of Information

Percentage of those who had a need for this kind of information who used the Internet to find it

Learning about a specific disease, illness, or injury

Where did you obtain this information?

58%

29%

7%3% 2% 1%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Internet Health care professional

Others Library related

response

Health organization

Other person

Learning about a specific disease, illness, or injury:

In the FUTURE, where would you go to get this kind of

information?

58%63%

29%

40%

7% 8%3%

12%

2% 4%1% 3%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Internet Health care professional

Others Library related

response

Health organization

Other person

Calendar of local events Related to health and Wellness

Where did you obtain this information?

49%

19%15%

13%4%

0%0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

InternetOthers Health organization

Health care professional

Other person

Library related

response

Finding Support Groups Where did you obtain this

information?

36%

24%20% 16%

4%0%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Health care professional Others Internet Health

organizationOther

person

Library related

response

27%

20%

14%

9%

9%

4%

3%

0% 10% 30%15% 20% 25%

No specific site/don’t know

Use search engine

WebMD

Yahoo

Google

MSN

AOL

What internet sites do you use for health

information?

Other sites mentioned(No more that 3 mentions)

• Medical• Health Central• American Medical

Association• UMIM• Dogpile• ASHA• Discovery Channel• Blue Cross• United Health• Dr. Coop• Heart• Road Runner• NEJM

• Men's Health• Metlife• Blue Choice• Health Care Provider• Fitness• Medline Plus• Aetna• American Health

Network• Mayo Clinic• Dr. Dean Edell• Health Link• Medix• Walgreens

What do you like about using the Internet to get information about health

related Issues?

66%

26%

11%

7%

5%

0% 20% 100%40% 60% 80%

Easy/fast/convenient

Amount/variety of information

Can use at home

Don’t have to bother Dr./others

Privacy

What do you dislike about using the Internet to get information about health

related issues?

67%

23%

20%

7%

5%

0% 20% 100%40% 60% 80%

Dislike nothing

Sorting through lotsof information

Accuracy concerns

Slow

Lacks human interaction

3%Popup ads

Our conclusions

• Results substantiate our plans to build a local website for health information

• Many are satisfied with the information they get from the Internet, but there is room for improvement

• Wellness information more important than we thought

Conclusions

• Two areas where Internet not already well used• Calendar of local events• Finding support groups

These are exactly the information gaps that could be filled by a localized, well known Internet site.

Conclusions

• No one Internet health site dominates

• CLIC-on-Health could establish itself as the widely recognized website of choice among Rochesterians, since THE POSITION IS VACANT!

Future Plans for Market Research

• Good baseline data for evaluation purposes

• Plan to repeat this survey several years into the future

• Will we have made a difference???• That’s our intent!

Let’s have some fun –Survey Out-takes

• “I go to government

sites like AMA and APA”

• “It’s that they would use

the big doctor talk, and I

would say, uh huh, okay, whatever…”

More Out Takes

• What Internet site did you use to obtain info on how to stay healthy, such as nutrition or exercise?• www.dentbaseball.com

• Where did you obtain info

on local events related

to health and wellness?• The Bicycle Shop

Even more Out Takes

• What is your favorite site for health information?• Clubmed.com

And Finally…

• What site do you use for health information?

“I don’t know.

I just click on health”