Internet delivered question and answer column for patients with schizophrenia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the use of an Internet delivered question and answer column among patients with schizophrenia. The column was developed for research purposes. The study sample consisted of patients (N = 100) admitted to acute inpatient psychiatric care in two hospital districts. Descriptive data were collected from the column to which a nurse replied within 3 days and analysed using qualitative content analysis. The column had four to five questions weekly. The most common age of users was 18–24 years, and the gender distribution was almost equal. Column use was heaviest among students (44%) and least among unemployed people (19%). Out of 85 questions or comments sent to the column, 25 (29%) were related to program training and the remaining 60 (71%) were related to medication (31%), illness and tests (25%), other questions or comments (9%), daily life and coping with it (4%), and places to receive treatment (2%). An Internet delivered question and answer column can be included in the care of patients with schizophrenia. However, it requires a new type of basic and additional education in the field of mental health care in order for nurses to be able to provide nursing via the Internet forum.

• Internet
• psychiatric nursing
• question and answer column
• schizophrenia

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the Academy of Finland (207384), the Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation, the Medical Research Fund of Tampere University Hospital, and the Finnish Foundation of Nursing Education for providing funding for this study.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.