FOR RELEASE APRIL 6, 2010

Patients and Online Communities

What does the internationalization of information mean for patients and health professionals? What are the strengths - and weaknesses - of online patient communities?

BY Susannah Fox

FOR MEDIA OR OTHER INQUIRIES:

Communications Department
202.419.4372
www.pewresearch.org

RECOMMENDED CITATION

Pew Research Center, April 2010, "Patients and Online Communities"

About Pew Research Center

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It does not take policy positions. The Center conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, computational social science research and other data-driven research. It studies politics and policy; news habits and media; the internet and technology; religion; race and ethnicity; international affairs; social, demographic and economic trends; science; research methodology and data science; and immigration and migration. Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder.

© Pew Research Center 2026

Table of contents

Patients and Online Communities

What does the internationalization of information mean for patients and health professionals? What are the strengths - and weaknesses - of online patient communities?

The advancement and popularity of patient communities online is an international phenomenon. This panel examined communities in different cultures, languages and context, and what impact they have on care delivery in different countries–and what the internationalization of information means for patients and doctors.

The patient perspective from:

  • Roberto Ascione, PagineMediche.it
  • Gilles Frydman, ACOR
  • Jamie Heywood, PatientsLikeMe
  • Neil Bacon, iWantGreatCare
  • Christian Angele, imedo

Research and commentary from:

  • Alexander Schachinger, Humboldt University Berlin
  • Susannah Fox, Pew Internet

For more information, please see Health 2.0 Europe’s website or join the conversation on e-patients.net: Privacy can kill, openness can heal (a preview of the event) and Health 2.0 Europe: A Moveable Feast (a review of the panel).