Abstract

Survey results released in December, 2002 from Ipsos-Reid's Canadian Inter@ctive Reid Report show that more Canadians have looked for online health information than any other online activity. A larger proportion of online Canadians have visited a health Website than those who have sent joke emails (59%), used instant messaging (54%), conducted online banking (49%), comparison shopped (45%) or who have purchased something online (43%). In fact, besides the generic categories of sending & receiving email, and using a search engine, using the Internet to visit a health site that offers medical, nutritional, exercise, diet or alternative medicine information, is number one among 40+ activities Canadian Inter@ctive Reid Report has measured over the past eight years. It is also an activity with relatively frequent participation levels, as 66% of those who have visited a health site do so on a monthly basis, and a smaller proportion (22%) browse weekly.