PatchWorx: connecting unhealthy and disabled children in an online community.

PatchWorx (PatchWorx, Inc., Menlo Park, CA) is a nonprofit Web-based community for young people facing illness and disability (http://www.patchworx.org). Teresa Middleton, founder and president of PatchWorx, Inc., believes the PatchWorx online community helps children develop the skills necessary for them to successfully cope with their illnesses. Through computer-mediated communication (CMC) via the PatchWorx Web site, children practice information seeking, problem solving and proactively finding social support.