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Official Websites of Local Health Centers in Taiwan: A Nationwide Study

Author

Listed:
  • Ya-Chuan Hsu

    (Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shi-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan)

  • Tzeng-Ji Chen

    (Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shi-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan
    School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, No. 155, Sec. 2, Linong Street, Taipei 112, Taiwan)

  • Feng-Yuan Chu

    (Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shi-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan)

  • Hao-Yen Liu

    (Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shi-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan)

  • Li-Fang Chou

    (Department of Public Finance, National Chengchi University, Taipei 116, Taiwan)

  • Shinn-Jang Hwang

    (Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shi-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan
    School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, No. 155, Sec. 2, Linong Street, Taipei 112, Taiwan)

Abstract

Local health centers (LHCs) play a key role in public health. Because it has now become popular to seek health information on the Internet, an effective website is indispensable to an LHC. Our study aimed to survey the official websites of LHCs in Taiwan with an evaluation framework. All 369 LHCs in Taiwan were surveyed in March 2018. The evaluation indicators included health information, online interactive services, technical features, institutional information, links to external resources, website management, the last updated time, and number of visitors. The indicators were stratified by the urbanization levels of the LHCs. In total, 98.0% ( n = 360) of the LHCs had official websites. The majority ( n = 241) of the websites were updated within the past 30 days, and most of the websites ( n = 353) provided health information. However, the information provided varied considerably. Few LHCs ( n = 31) provided online interactive services in terms of an online appointment function. In terms of providing online consultation services, rural LHCs outperformed suburban and urban LHCs (16.4% versus 14.5% and 6.0%, respectively). Most LHCs in Taiwan do not seem to take full advantage of the Internet, with their websites typically serving as static bulletin boards instead of new channels of communication. Further studies could focus on the effectiveness of these websites.

Suggested Citation

  • Ya-Chuan Hsu & Tzeng-Ji Chen & Feng-Yuan Chu & Hao-Yen Liu & Li-Fang Chou & Shinn-Jang Hwang, 2019. "Official Websites of Local Health Centers in Taiwan: A Nationwide Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-10, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:3:p:399-:d:202190
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kankana Mukherjee & Rexford Santerre & Ning Jackie Zhang, 2010. "Explaining the efficiency of local health departments in the U.S.: an exploratory analysis," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 378-387, December.
    2. Po-Chin Yang & Wui-Chiang Lee & Hao-Yen Liu & Mei-Ju Shih & Tzeng-Ji Chen & Li-Fang Chou & Shinn-Jang Hwang, 2018. "Use of Facebook by Hospitals in Taiwan: A Nationwide Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-10, June.
    3. Harris, J.K. & Mueller, N.L. & Snider, D., 2013. "Social media adoption in local health departments nationwide," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(9), pages 1700-1707.
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    Cited by:

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