title: An eHealth Intervention for Patients in Rural Areas: Preliminary Findings From a Pilot Feasibility Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  eHealth facilitation of chronic disease management has potential to increase engagement and effectiveness and extend access to care in rural areas.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility and acceptability of an eHealth system for the management of chronic conditions in a rural setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  We developed an online management program which incorporated content from the Flinders Chronic Condition Management Program (Flinders Program) and used an existing software platform (goACT), which is accessible by patients and health care workers using either Web-enabled mobile phone or Internet, enabling communication between patients and clinicians. We analyzed the impact of this eHealth system using qualitative and simple quantitative methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The eHealth system was piloted with 8 recently hospitalized patients from rural areas, average age 63 (SD 9) years, each with an average of 5 chronic conditions and high level of psychological distress with an average K10 score of 32.20 (SD 5.81). Study participants interacted with the eHealth system. The average number of logins to the eHealth system by the study participants was 26.4 (SD 23.5) over 29 weeks. The login activity was higher early in the week.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The pilot demonstrated the feasibility of implementing and delivering a chronic disease management program using a Web-based patient-clinician application. A qualitative analysis revealed burden of illness and low levels of information technology literacy as barriers to patient engagement.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Observatory Research Unit, Country Health SA Local Health Network, Adelaide, Australia.
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schrader
authors.forename: Niranjan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bidargaddi
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Lareen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lynn
authors.forename: Leigh
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Battersby
keywords: chronic disease; eHealth; rural health