What Do Our Customers Really Want?

The Role of Market Research in Planning for a Consumer Health Website

Julia Sollenberger Bernie Todd-Smith

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 Health It Takes a Long Time to Grow an Apple Tree The Future 1999-2000 Cooperation Established • 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 2001-2002 Cooperative Planning • 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 2003-2004 Joint Resources Developed • 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 grants Seniors 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

Literacy educators, insurers & others Senior Center & Nursing Staff 6% Health Sciences Librarians 7% 13% 9% School Librarians & Nurses 10% Public Librarians 20% 33% Health Agency Staff Health Educators/Providers

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

Forum

Team Formation

Teams Website Information Referral Market Research/ Publicity Evaluation

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

Literacy educators, insurers & others Senior Center & Nursing Staff 6% Health Sciences Librarians 7% 13% 9% School Librarians & Nurses 10% Public Librarians 20% 33% Health Agency Staff Health Educators/Providers

What’s Missing?

Benchmarking

Market Survey

Objectives • • • • 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 Survey

Methodology • • • • • 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 Survey

Demographics • “Typical” User • Age 25-64 (85%) • White (88%) • Female (61%) • Income Level $25,000 – 100,000 (64%) • With Internet Access at Home (87%)

No 24%

Do you use the Internet to look for health information?

76% Yes

3=Fair 15%

How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the availability and quality of health care information in the Rochester area?

4=Poor 4% Don’t Know 3% 1=Excellent 23% 2=Good 55% Note: Overall Satisfaction Increases with age

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

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 Calendar of local events related to health and wellness Finding support groups 0% 14% 20% 36% 30% 40% 69% 49% 55% 65% 60% 80% 100%

Use of Internet to obtain this kind of Information

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 Calendar of local events related to health and wellness Finding support groups 37% 13% 20% 30% 42% 58% 62% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Percentage of those who had a need for this kind of information who used the Internet to find it 100%

Learning about a specific disease, illness, or injury Where did you obtain this information?

80% 60% 58% 40% 29% 20% 7% 3% 2% 1% 0% 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?

80% 60% 58% 63% 40% 40% 29% 20% 0% Internet 7% 8% Health care professional Others 3% 12% 2% 4% 1% 3% Library related response Health organization Other person

Calendar of local events Related to health and Wellness Where did you obtain this information?

100% 80% 60% 49% 40% 19% 20% 15% 13% 0% Others Health organization Health care professional Internet 4% Other person 0% Library related response

Finding Support Groups

Where did you obtain this information?

100% 80% 60% 40% 36% 20% 0% Health care professional 24% Others 20% 16% 4% 0% Internet Health organization Other person Library related response

What internet sites do you use for health information?

No specific site/don’t know Use search engine WebMD Yahoo 9% Google 9% MSN AOL 0% 4% 3% 10% 14% 15% 20% 27% 20% 25% 30%

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?

Easy/fast/convenient Amount/variety of information 26% Can use at home 11% Don’t have to bother Dr./others Privacy 0% 7% 5% 20% 40% 66% 60% 80% 100%

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

Dislike nothing Sorting through lots of information Accuracy concerns Slow Lacks human interaction Popup ads 0% 7% 5% 3% 20% 23% 20% 40% 67% 60% 80% 100%

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”