A longitudinal study of use of an interactive health communication system.

This study analyzes individuals' transaction log data as patients engage in an interactive health communication system (IHCS) and reports on how changes in searching and browsing behaviors predict their psychological and emotional quality of life during a cancer experience. What the results most strongly indicate about effective IHCS usage in accounting for various benefits is that it depends on how a patient uses the system. That is, improvements in a patient's status were linked to her commitment to use IHCS services over weeks of time, through either consistency or an increase in searching and browsing behaviors.