Keywords

Comprehensive healthcare, Consumer health information, eHealth, Internet

 

Authors

  1. MOLINA-LEYVA, ALEJANDRO MD
  2. LEYVA-GARCIA, ANA PhD
  3. RUIZ-CARRASCOSA, JOSE CARLOS MD
  4. NARANJO-SINTES, RAMON PhD
  5. JIMENEZ-MOLEON, JOSE JUAN PhD

Abstract

Psoriasis is a disease that affects many facets of life. Psoriasis patients have needs that cannot be addressed within the traditional consultation structure. Although the Internet provides a number of health resources, the quality of the information is variable, and many sites are not editorially independent. After reviewing the contents available on the Internet related to psoriasis, the staff of the psoriasis unit at San Cecilio University Hospital (Granada, Spain) developed a Web site to meet the needs of psoriasis patients. A group of 241 patients who attended a follow-up visit to our psoriasis unit evaluated the Web site and provided feedback through an online survey. The result of the Web development process was the creation of "Psoriasis365" (https://sites.google.com/site/psoriasis365/). Overall, the Web site achieved high scores, the most popular section being "research." These results suggest that the Web site can complement the healthcare of psoriasis patients and is potentially useful for research purposes.