Electronic Health Records for Health Promotion

The purpose of this study is to determine whether personally controlled electronic health records can be used for health promotion in a workplace setting.

In response to the call for research of the new Health Protection Research Initiative at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we propose to adapt newly mature informatics technology to shift the paradigm for health alerting and health promotion in the workplace. The goal is to firmly ground these activities on real time information collected from and delivered to employees, in an interactive, secure, electronic environment. We will study influenza prevention and control, an archetype of public health practice requiring surveillance, communication, and timely influence of health-related behaviors. Complex information gleaned from surveillance will be processed, translated and provided to employees. The goal is to provide employees with timely, individualized health promotion messages to improve their knowledge, attitudes and beliefs regarding influenza and to increase the rate of seasonal influenza immunization for them and their household members. The approach will be evaluated in a group randomized design at several worksites of a major corporation.

General health outcomes related to respiratory illnesses (e.g. number of influenza-like illnesses, number of physician visits, number of missed work days).

Inclusion Criteria: The subject is a part-time or full-time employee at a major corporation. The subject is eighteen years of age or older. The subject is comfortable reading and writing in English. The subject has reliable internet access at home, at school, or at work. The subject uses email regularly (i.e. at least once every 2 days) The subject does not have a known allergy to chicken eggs or a history of a severe reaction to an influenza vaccination in the past. Exclusion Criteria: -

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