We spoke with Dr. Debbe Thompson, who is the Principal Investigator on the project entitled Factors Influencing Log-On Rates in an eHealth Obesity Prevention Program Promoting Healthy Eating and Physical Activity to 8-10 Year Old African American Girls at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

Q: What is unique and/or innovative about your study?
In our previous research, we learned that children and their parents logged on to their respective Edutainment web sites less than 50% of the time. eHealth programs cannot be effective at that log on rate. My study is one of the first that attempts to examine factors that influence log-on rates to an Edutainment web site promoting healthy diet and physical activity to youth.

Q: How is your project progressing so far?
We got IRB approval in September, have finished the recording session for the introduction, and the programmers are hard-at-work on the modifications to the original program. We are also finalizing the recruitment plan, and should be ready to start recruiting in the near future.

Q: What prompted you to explore this research?
I think Edutainment is most likely to be effective with youth. It is entertaining, as well as educational, and has the potential to engage a youth’s imagination, which I believe is of critical importance in capturing and maintaining interest.

For the specific topic I am working on (factors influencing log on rates), I am interested in this topic because even the most theoretically elegant program cannot be effective if it is not accessed by its intended audience. Therefore, finding effective methods to increase log-on rates is a critical issue for eHealth programs.

Q: How would a typical end-user utilize the final product/results of your research?
The end-user of my research is researchers or people who design behavior change programs for youth. Hopefully, the product of my research (i.e., knowledge of factors influencing log-on rate) can be used to enhance log-on rates of youth to behavior change programs.

Q: What are the greatest challenges in eHealth and more specifically, your project?
Learning to use the computer interface more efficiently and effectively to deliver programs and services, understanding factors that influence usability, and understanding how to enhance log on rates are among some of the greatest challenges facing eHealth today. One of the biggest challenges I face with this project is recruitment.

Q: In what ways would you like to see eHealth evolve?
I would like to see eHealth researchers become savvy enough to design, develop, and deliver programs that effectively engage participants (most likely through edutainment formats); are broadly available; and empower an individual to make informed choices about their health.

Q: How do you stay informed of advances and innovations in eHealth?
There is a substantial amount of information on eHealth, but one has to find it. Attending conferences, frequent PubMed searches to locate interesting/innovative manuscripts, talking with colleagues, browsing titles at the local bookstore, and reviewing the table of contents from a wide array of journals are among the procedures I find most helpful.

Thanks for sharing with us, Debbe!

Stay tuned! We will hear from Dr. Ramesh Farzanfar of Boston University Medical Center in the next edition.