title: Evaluation of the use of a social networking site in sexual health care.
abstract: The Myspace project was launched in 2008 to develop a novel approach to engage with younger sexual health service users. The aim was to use a social networking site as a patient forum, to gain feedback on how to improve services and to make sexual health information accessible to a larger audience, many of whom might not be current service users and thereby to encourage attendances from more 'hard to reach' groups. In this report, we explore the effectiveness and specific challenges of the project and in particular, the difficulty in achieving involvement in the discussion forum. We discuss the future of the project and make recommendations to other services considering this approach.
authors.affiliation: Watford Sexual Health Centre, Watford General Hospital, Watford, UK. Katharine.Hedge@whht.nhs.uk
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Hedge
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Donald
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000379:methods*; D019058:Community Networks; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000379:methods; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000379:methods*; D012736:Sex Education; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012944:Social Support; D006113:United Kingdom