11
Health Communication
11-1	Households with Internet access
11-2	Health literacy
11-3	Research and evaluation of communication programs
11-4	Quality of Internet health information sources
11-5	Centers for excellence
11-6	Satisfaction with health care providers’ communication skills

11-1.	Increase the proportion of households with access to the Internet at home.	
National Data Source	Computer and Internet Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS), U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.	
State Data Source	Not identified.	
Healthy People 2000 Objective	Not applicable.	
Measure	Percent.	
Baseline	26 (1998).	
Numerator	Number of households with connections to the Internet by way of computer or WebTV.	
Denominator	Number of households.	
Population Targeted	U.S. households.	
Questions Used To Obtain the National Data	From the 1998 Current Population Survey:	
	•	Is there a personal computer or laptop in this household?	
	•	Is there a WebTV in this household?	
	[If “yes” to one of the above questions:]	
o	Does anyone in this household use the Internet from home?	
	[If “yes” to both of the above questions:]	
o	Earlier you said that you have both a computer and WebTV. Does anyone in this household use either one to connect to the Internet?	
Expected Periodicity	Periodic.	
Comments	A household was considered to have a connection to the Internet if the household responded “yes” to either of the last two questions above.	
	The 1998 baseline data were collected as part of the Computer and Internet Use Supplement to CPS; this supplement contained questions about the household in general and about those individual household members who use the Internet. The respondent was at least 15 years old, was knowledgeable about the Internet or computers, and gave proxy responses for other members of the household. It is expected that data about Internet access will be collected every 2 to 3 years, subject to funding availability.	
	The Census Bureau obtained data on this survey by interviewing 48,000 sample households.	
	See Appendix A for focus area contact information.	
    
11-2.	(Developmental) Improve the health literacy of persons with inadequate or marginal literacy skills.	
Comments	An operational definition could not be specified at the time of publication.	
	A proposed data source for this objective is the 2002 National Adult Literacy Survey, conducted by the U.S. States Department of Education.	
	See Appendix A for focus area contact information.	
    
11-3.	(Developmental) Increase the proportion of health communication activities that include research and evaluation.	
Comments	An operational definition could not be specified at the time of publication.	
	Proposed sources of data for this objective are Federal Register notices, Grantmakers in Health, and the National Health Council.	
	See Appendix A for focus area contact information.	
    
11-4.	(Developmental) Increase the proportion of health-related World Wide Web sites that disclose information that can be used to assess the quality of the site. 	
Comments	An operational definition could not be specified at the time of publication.	
	Proposed sources of data for this objective are the Health on the Net Foundation, Health Internet Ethics (Hi-Ethics), and the Internet Healthcare Coalition.	
	See Appendix A for focus area contact information.	
    
11-5.	(Developmental) Increase the number of centers for excellence that seek to advance the research and practice of health communication. 	
Comments	An operational definition could not be specified at the time of publication.	
	Proposed sources of data for this objective are the American Public Health Association’s Health Communication Interest Group; Society for Social Marketing; Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH); National Cancer Institute; International Communication Association, Health Communication Division; and National Communication Association, Health Communication Division.	
	See Appendix A for focus area contact information.	
    
11-6.	(Developmental) Increase the proportion of persons who report that their health care providers have satisfactory communication skills.	
Comments	An operational definition could not be specified at the time of publication.	
	Proposed sources of data for this objective include the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA); the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), CDC, NCCDPHP; the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), CDC, NCHS; and industry surveys such as those conducted by FIND/SVP, Nielsen, and Jupiter Communications.	
	See Appendix A for focus area contact information.