Consumer reports and health care information: a call for research.
The consumer movement together with the information explosion has a tremendous impact upon all aspects of American life. Health care is a prime example of a vital area of importance that has seen and will continue to see a demand for more timely and appropriate information that consumers can use to assist in decision making about personal health care services. This article proposes that cancer, in particular breast cancer, presents one of the major diagnostic areas that has caused women to seek out such information. We propose needed research including a conceptual framework that may guide that research.
Longo
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Department of Family and Community Medicine and Center for Family Medicine Science, University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, USA.
Patrick
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D003256:Community Participation; D003657:Decision Making; D006266:Health Education; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D014481:United States