Pre-launch evaluation checklist for online health-promoting communities

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Digital Health
• Community Health

Background:

• Limited guidance exists for designing successful online health-promoting communities (OHPC).
• Developing effective OHPC requires integrating user and health service perspectives.
• This study addresses the need for structured evaluation tools in digital health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a pre-launch evaluation checklist for OHPCs.
• To incorporate both user and health service community perspectives into the checklist.
• To provide practical guidance for the development of health promotion web resources.

Main Methods:

• Action research design was employed.
• Information system success constructs were adapted for the OHPC context.
• Formative evaluation was conducted using a case study and qualitative analysis of participatory observations.

Main Results:

• The initial checklist included information quality, service quality, and subjective norms.
• Adaptation yielded specific items for content, trust, format, staff competence, service, empathy, social facilitation, interconnectivity, and communication.
• Balancing online community autonomy with professional health service quality control is crucial.

Conclusions:

• A practical pre-launch checklist for OHPC development has been created.
• This tool aids in the design of effective health promotion web resources.
• Further research on instruments for OHPC evaluation is recommended.