This qualitative study examined how people use Internet health information in the context of their everyday lives. Telephone interviews using open-ended questions were conducted with fourteen men and women between the ages of twenty and sixty-four years who were recruited through the Canadian Health Network. All of the participants believed that using the Internet to help manage health is an empowering experience. However, the quality of Internet information and threats to individual privacy on-line may pose risks to empowerment. Using the Internet did not appear to influence how often participants use the health care system, or lifestyle behaviour changes, except in the case of younger men, who showed different patterns of responses throughout the study. Conducting focused searches based on their analysis of their personal health information needs did represent a significant change from how the majority of the participants previously managed their health.
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