Illness stories on the Internet: features of websites disclosing breast cancer patients' illness stories in the Dutch language.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the way in which breast cancer patients' illness stories in the Dutch language are disclosed on the Internet.


METHODS
Websites containing Dutch illness stories written by breast cancer patients were selected using a search engine on the Internet. A checklist was developed based on a theoretical framework for analysing communication processes in order to examine the selected websites.


RESULTS
None of the websites implements search facilities based on either the content of an illness story, or the personal features of the author. A minority of the websites offers information about the illness stories, such as author's genuineness and editor's review.


CONCLUSIONS
The Internet's opportunities are not fully utilized with respect to disclosing breast cancer patients' illness stories.


CONCLUSIONS
In order to support a patient in finding appropriate illness stories in the diverse set of available stories, we are in the process of developing an application that combines symbolic and statistical natural language analysis techniques to facilitate content-based retrieval.
Overberg
Regina
R
Leiden University Medical Centre, Clinical Informatics, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands. r.i.overberg@lumc.nl
Toussaint
Pieter
P
Zwetsloot-Schonk
Bertie
B
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D020407:Internet / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007802:Language; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009042:Motivation; D033262:Narration; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D012649:Self Concept; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D012803:Sick Role