An on-line device for tracking survival determinants and educating individuals with breast cancer

Abstract

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare calculates that chronic disease accounts for nearly 43% of the total disease burden in Australia. Diet and exercise (together with smoking cessation) are acknowledged as the most important factors in achieving and maintaining desired BMI for the prevention of chronic diseases such as breast cancer. Despite the evidence, community attitudes to diet and exercise have been difficult to transform; geographic and socioeconomic barriers to health care and advice are difficult to overcome; and sustainable long-term change in health behaviours has been elusive. Attempts at delivering health education via the internet have been encouraging although long-term follow-up results are scarce, and issues of adherence remain unknown. We describe the development of a secure on-line interactive device for breast cancer patients to: educate individuals regarding evidencebased guidelines for exercise, physical activity and diet; and assess self-monitoring of physical and psychosocial health outcomes. The Healthy Outcomes web site was constructed with a central framework incorporating interactive user personal profiles; personal exercise, physical activity, diet and medications diaries; and a bank of self-report questionnaires which can be utilised by practitioners and researchers for tracking user outcomes. The Healthy Outcomes web site will eventually include health enablers such as blogging and personal reminders. This model of service delivery has the potential for application in a wide range of important health priority areas.