title: An e-health strategy to facilitate care of breast cancer survivors: A pilot study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Innovative e-health strategies are emerging, to tailor and provide convenient, systematic and high-quality survivorship care for an expanding cancer survivor population. This pilot study tests the application of an e-health platform, "Healthy.me," in a breast cancer survivor cohort at Liverpool and Macarthur Cancer Therapy Centres, New South Wales, Australia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty breast cancer patients were recruited to use the Healthy.me website, designed by the Centre of Health Informatics at the University of New South Wales, over a 4-month period. Telephone and online questionnaires were used at 1 and 4 months and a face-to-face feedback at study completion, to gather qualitative and quantitative data regarding feasibility of Healthy.me.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Healthy.me was reported to be a useful online resource by most users. Usage declined from 76% at 1 month to 48% at 4 months. Breast cancer survivors enjoyed a variety of tailored information regarding health and life-style issues. Positive aspects of Healthy.me were the convenient access to trusted information, and interaction with their peers and healthcare professionals. Barriers to usage contributing to usage decline were lack of reported patient time to re-access information, limited content updates and technical factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This pilot study suggested the potential of an e-health strategy such as Healthy.me in addressing the needs of a growing breast cancer survivor population. Ongoing development of a more robust e-health resource and integration with primary care models is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Therapy Centre, Liverpool and Campbelltown Hospitals, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Siaw Sze
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Tiong
authors.affiliation: Cancer Therapy Centre, Liverpool and Campbelltown Hospitals, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|Liverpool Hospital, Collaboration for Cancer Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CCORE), Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Eng-Siew
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.affiliation: Cancer Therapy Centre, Liverpool and Campbelltown Hospitals, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|Liverpool Hospital, Collaboration for Cancer Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CCORE), Sydney, NSW, Australia.|Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, South Western Sydney Clinical School, UNSW Medicine, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|University of Western Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Delaney
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Informatics Australian Institute of Health Innovation, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.affiliation: Cancer Therapy Centre, Liverpool and Campbelltown Hospitals, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.affiliation: Cancer Therapy Centre, Liverpool and Campbelltown Hospitals, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Vicki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.affiliation: Cancer Therapy Centre, Liverpool and Campbelltown Hospitals, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Pharmila
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sapkota
authors.affiliation: Cancer Therapy Centre, Liverpool and Campbelltown Hospitals, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Therese
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, South Western Sydney Clinical School, UNSW Medicine, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|University of Western Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Afaf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Girgis
authors.affiliation: Cancer Therapy Centre, Liverpool and Campbelltown Hospitals, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|University of Western Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Przezdziecki
authors.affiliation: Cancer Therapy Centre, Liverpool and Campbelltown Hospitals, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|University of Western Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lonergan
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Informatics Australian Institute of Health Innovation, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Coiera
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008875:Middle Aged; D009517:New South Wales; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Internet; breast cancer; cancer survivor; e-health; health informatic