Abstract |
Since the 1980s, the Taiwan government started to develop the E-government, with websites constructed to diffuse resources. Meanwhile, the rise of consumer awareness has led to the growth of consumer-oriented websites, providing information of medicine and health and resulting in wide discussions on health-related issues. Therefore, this research adopted the content analysis method to analyze the consumer health information from 62 websites of government agencies of health and welfare. The study employed a systematic approach to exploring the status of consumer health information, characteristics, website contents and provided services. In summary, this study proposed the following findings. First, the developers of the websites include government agencies, non-profit organizations, and non-government organizations. Second, most of the websites fall into the “healthcare industry” category. Third, the major type of information provided is “news”. Fourth, the main contents are about health promotion. Fifth, most of the websites are for everyday users. Sixth, the websites mainly provide “information delivery” services. Seventh, most of the websites are information- and-resource-based for policy promotions.
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