Health information on the Internet : the case of BarniMagen.com : http://www.supplement_or_substitute

Abstract

Throughout history features have been assigned to stretches of time in order to distinguish them from one another. These features have pointed to several different parts of life, although a lot of focus has been centred on the work life of the human. From pointing to the materials available to work with for humans, like iron or bronze, to structures of work, Fordism and Industrialism, theories have abounded. On many of these distinctions academics disagree, and there are vast numbers of theories and literature on why a period of time should be termed after one or another aspect of it. One of the theories receiving a lot of support and criticism that focuses on the present time is that we are in an Information Society, or an Information Age. Within those who agree on this term, there are different methods in which they attempt to show that society can indeed be shown to distinguish itself from what has come before it through information's place within it. Although there are numerous aspects of these theories that are disagreed upon, few critics, be they academics or otherwise, will disagree with the statement that the access to large quantities of information and services has increased in the years since the Internet surfaced. Particularly in the last 3-4 years the use of the Internet has spread, and through this use the access to information has increased for many people. Academics enter into dialogues to ascertain what this means for society, and at other levels policies are discussed for the same reasons. The information and services to be accessed on the Internet lie within various areas, illegal and legal, but one of the areas with a lot of growth is the area of health. Both health information and services are showing constant increases and the implications of this are not yet fully clear. Specifically what are people using the health information from the Internet for, which services do they use and why? How is this use affecting their relationships with their health care professionals? These and many others are questions academics as well as policy-makers must consider. This dissertation will attempt to look at the present debates on the role of information in the present society, both at an academic and a policy level, as well as the more specific debates on health information and its affects on the relationships between health care professionals and patients. As well as this, a case study of a midwifery website will be done to illustrate the last question: Whether the health information online is considered by users to be a substitute or a supplement to regular consultative services with health care professionals.