Internet Education of African American Consumers on Quality of Care

Abstract

This article describes a study using the Internet to teach African American consumers about quality of health care. By reading information on quality of care, consumers can learn ways to assess the care they are receiving, develop strategies needed to participate effectively in communicating with their health care providers, and make informed decisions in their own best interests. We developed an educational intervention using 5 Internet documents on quality of care and evaluated its effectiveness on learning, value of the information, and satisfaction with the instruction between consumers who read the information alone and those who read the information and interacted with a nurse. Participants indicated they learned a great deal from the information at the Web sites and reported that it would be helpful in assessing their own health care. They more frequently described quality care in terms of health outcomes, self care behaviors, and patient education after the Internet instruction, reflecting important concepts contained in the documents.