Changing communities, changing spaces: the challenges of health promotion outreach in cyberspace
This article is a case study of an Internet chat room outreach project in Perth, Western Australia. The CyberReach project sought to adapt current peer based health promotion outreach, training and supervision frameworks to an online outreach setting in a way that was effective and supported by the...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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International Union for Health Promotion and Education
2007
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/47693 |
| _version_ | 1848757904070410240 |
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| author | Hallett, Jonathan Brown, Graham Maycock, Bruce Langdon, Patricia |
| author_facet | Hallett, Jonathan Brown, Graham Maycock, Bruce Langdon, Patricia |
| author_sort | Hallett, Jonathan |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This article is a case study of an Internet chat room outreach project in Perth, Western Australia. The CyberReach project sought to adapt current peer based health promotion outreach, training and supervision frameworks to an online outreach setting in a way that was effective and supported by the online community. It targeted marginalised groups to trial the provision of online mental and sexual health promotion incorporating a participatory action research model into its development and implementation. Three 6-week trial periods were conducted and significant changes were made in response to changes in the online environment and to improve sustainability and effectiveness of the protocols. Four themes arose from CyberReach's experience: online group processes are unique due to the creation of extensive personal networks and occurrence of disclosure without face-to-face contact across potentially large geographic barriers; flexibility is required to adapt to technological changes and online community flux; enforcing boundaries and delineating peer education from therapeutic support can be challenging when only using text-based communication; and Internet outreach can be time intensive with small returns in actual community engagement and constant technological up-skilling of staff may be required.Based on the project's experiences we offer the following recommendations when planning similar Internet outreach strategies: Funding and planning groups need to be aware that the Internet environment is constantly changing and planning and funding arrangements need to reflect a capacity to remain flexible; Programs need to be firmly connected to the communities they are outreaching therefore a peer-based education component is strongly encouraged; Careful consideration should be taken regarding data collection so that the environment and the individuals within are respected; Further research needs to be conducted to understand the styles and approaches of different online interactions, and the relative influence of technical platforms, gender and age. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:35:30Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-47693 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:35:30Z |
| publishDate | 2007 |
| publisher | International Union for Health Promotion and Education |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-476932017-09-13T16:05:51Z Changing communities, changing spaces: the challenges of health promotion outreach in cyberspace Hallett, Jonathan Brown, Graham Maycock, Bruce Langdon, Patricia outreach internet chat room This article is a case study of an Internet chat room outreach project in Perth, Western Australia. The CyberReach project sought to adapt current peer based health promotion outreach, training and supervision frameworks to an online outreach setting in a way that was effective and supported by the online community. It targeted marginalised groups to trial the provision of online mental and sexual health promotion incorporating a participatory action research model into its development and implementation. Three 6-week trial periods were conducted and significant changes were made in response to changes in the online environment and to improve sustainability and effectiveness of the protocols. Four themes arose from CyberReach's experience: online group processes are unique due to the creation of extensive personal networks and occurrence of disclosure without face-to-face contact across potentially large geographic barriers; flexibility is required to adapt to technological changes and online community flux; enforcing boundaries and delineating peer education from therapeutic support can be challenging when only using text-based communication; and Internet outreach can be time intensive with small returns in actual community engagement and constant technological up-skilling of staff may be required.Based on the project's experiences we offer the following recommendations when planning similar Internet outreach strategies: Funding and planning groups need to be aware that the Internet environment is constantly changing and planning and funding arrangements need to reflect a capacity to remain flexible; Programs need to be firmly connected to the communities they are outreaching therefore a peer-based education component is strongly encouraged; Careful consideration should be taken regarding data collection so that the environment and the individuals within are respected; Further research needs to be conducted to understand the styles and approaches of different online interactions, and the relative influence of technical platforms, gender and age. 2007 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/47693 10.1071/PY10020 International Union for Health Promotion and Education restricted |
| spellingShingle | outreach internet chat room Hallett, Jonathan Brown, Graham Maycock, Bruce Langdon, Patricia Changing communities, changing spaces: the challenges of health promotion outreach in cyberspace |
| title | Changing communities, changing spaces: the challenges of health promotion outreach in cyberspace |
| title_full | Changing communities, changing spaces: the challenges of health promotion outreach in cyberspace |
| title_fullStr | Changing communities, changing spaces: the challenges of health promotion outreach in cyberspace |
| title_full_unstemmed | Changing communities, changing spaces: the challenges of health promotion outreach in cyberspace |
| title_short | Changing communities, changing spaces: the challenges of health promotion outreach in cyberspace |
| title_sort | changing communities, changing spaces: the challenges of health promotion outreach in cyberspace |
| topic | outreach internet chat room |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/47693 |