Monday, November 17, 2008

Congratulations For Pregnancy

Publication of results of the research group of celiac disease Celiac disease

The Internet is for celiac disease is a helpful site: 91 percent of those who use the Internet say that it assisted them in dealing with celiac good or very good. How is it possible to increase this support service to? What must it be for a proposal to make the lives of seeking help celiac sufferers more comfortable?

To find an answer to these questions was, in media development seminar led by Prof. Dr. Carsten Winter and Mr. Medienwiss. Hannah Schmid at the Institute of Journalism and Communication Research at the University of Music and Drama, the research group founded in celiac disease.

The preliminary studies showed that Celiac disease already many opportunities for exchange use on the web. In numerous forums, blogs and other media are concerned lively exchange about their issues and concerns. The Web 2.0 and interactive web, has multiplied the opportunities for exchange and thus the content on the Internet that are created by users themselves (so-called user-generated content). In the first step of analysis the most important contributions were analyzed on celiac disease in User-generated content. The result does not claim to be exhaustive, but rather served to identify key problems of celiac disease sufferers.

Issues & Problems
For many celiac sufferers Travel is therefore a major problem. Those affected are often unsure whether they can relate to a similar extent in other countries, gluten-free products, whether they are properly awarded and whether there is in the worst case quickly find medical help. Furthermore, the acquisition of reliable information about celiac disease many patients still major difficulties. Many people are familiar with celiac disease from inadequate; a majority of the doctors and pharmacists are not experts in this field. A correspondingly difficult problem is the perceived incompetence of doctors and nutrition experts, as people rarely know which doctor really knows about it and in the past often had bad experiences with doctors had to make. Finally, the search for and find recipes and tips for those affected local gastronomy is problematic.

motives of Internet use
Against this background, the extensive use of the Internet by celiac sufferers and relatives to see how the then carried out on-line survey showed that they spend an average of 123 minutes daily on the Internet, what about the national average content. It turned out that two thirds of respondents would like to ask a doctor for advice on celiac disease, but nearly half bad or very bad experiences made during a meeting with a physician. At the same time, almost 90 percent of respondents with problems and issues related to celiac disease would like to talk to other interested parties. 67 percent report that they have other interested parties in the clients so far have been able to really help. This shows the ability of the Internet, people around the world to network and to facilitate the exchange between celiac disease sufferers.

media developments
Based on these findings have now as useful Web 2.0 online applications for celiac disease are developed. After analyzing the possible applications for the Internet, the online applications, Blog, Wiki Geotagging selected and designed specifically following media in order to verify this in the online survey on its acceptance:
  1. Research Blog: proven celiac experts blog about celiac disease-specific topics. Victims can obtain thus a valuable exchange opportunity.
  2. GeoTagging: Affected locate information on a map and thus provide for the immediate retrieval of important contact points such as doctors, shopping places, restaurants, etc.
  3. ReiseWiki: important information for patients to travel and experience are exchanged.
Ratings & acceptance
The evaluation of the developed Solutions gave positive: 37 percent of respondents agree that it is a problem to get accurate information on celiac disease in experience. Regarding the function of the application research blog, so the provision of sound information to evaluate more than two thirds of study participants with the application of "good" or "very good".

The problem is that trusting contacts, such as doctors and dieticians, expert food vendor or gluten-free restaurants just in the neighborhood to find and to gain knowledge about the quality of the offers only through their own experiences or conversations with others are seen, 75 percent of respondents. The appropriate solution proposal GeoTagging evaluate the three-quarters of the respondents as "good" or "very good". The personal relevance of the application be evaluated by the user starting points, and this is clearly and interactively on a map will be judged largely by "very good" (32%) or good (48%).


pictured evaluation of the presented Web 2.0 solutions for celiac condition; proportion of the 290 respondents in percent, which have rated as "good" or "very good"

Also, 79 percent of respondents for that traveling is a problem with celiac disease. The ReiseWiki proposed as a solution to this problem is assessed by 85 percent as "good" or "very good". The personal benefit of a central part, and manage travel experiences with the travel wikis assess 57 percent of respondents rated "very good" and 27 percent as "good".

conclusions
The media developments in celiac research group are able to offer the celiac sufferers to each have a specific benefit, and so to enrich the celiac community. For all three applications is: the more people join together and create something with these applications, the higher the value of such services is rising to the users. In a Implementation of media developments, it would have celiac disease at last in their own hands to do something for their community - had never before have so many ways to direct self-help!

The research group would like to thank all participants, celiac disease and supporters of the study - thanks for your confidence - especially with the German Celiac Society. Special thanks to the members of the Forum www.zoeliakie-treff.de that have large numbers participated in the survey and gave us valuable feedback. For feedback and further questions, the research group is still readily available - so you will be glad to comments.

Best regards,

Christopher Buschow, Andrea Chilf, Lukas Hartmann, Katja Kaufmann, André Luce, Frank Werthebach