GUIDE TO FITNESS, NUTRITION & STRESS MANAGEMENT WEBSITES

DESCRIPTION (provided by investigator): This SBIR fast-track project proposes to develop a public website called For Heart Health that will 1) assist users in finding Internet health sites on topics related to cardiovascular wellness such as fitness, nutrition, and stress management. Our proposed website will allow health seekers to provide feedback to those sites, and will guide site developers toward the development of a higher quality product. The For Heart Health website experience will provide a needs analysis engine that will work with health information seekers to better define their search and clarify the website features that are most relevant to them. Once the seeker has indicated his or her interests and needs, For Heart Health will provide a list of sites that have met requested quality standards and match indicated interests. Seekers will also be given the opportunity to review comments and ratings from other seekers before choosing to visit a site. After visiting a suggested site, they will be able to provide comments and ratings back to our evaluation site. In Phase I we will create and evaluate a prototype site, which focuses on physical fitness. Phase II will extend the site to a broad range of topics including diet and nutrition, stress management, and additional topics related to cardiovascular wellness. We will evaluate our ability to enhance a health seeker's understanding of quality indicators and provide a means for the public to find higher quality websites dedicated to heart wellness in general and fitness, nutrition, and stress management in particular.