Sharing Information about Health-Related Resources: Observations from a Community Resource Referral Intervention...

CommunityRx is a theory-driven, information technology (IT)-based intervention, developed with and in a predominantly African American/Black community, that provides patients with personalized information (a "HealtheRx") about self-management and social care resources in their community. We described patient and clinician information sharing after exposure to the intervention during a clinical trial. Survey data from 145 patients (ages 45-74) and 121 clinicians were analyzed. Of patients who shared information at least once (49%), 47% reported sharing ≥3 times (range 1-14). Patient sharers were in poorer physical health (mean PCS 37.6 vs 40.8, p=0.05) than non-sharers and more likely to report going to a resource on their HealtheRx (79% versus 41%, p≤0.05). Most patient sharers provided others a look at or copy of their HealtheRx, keeping the original. Patients used the HealtheRx to promote credibility of the information and communicate that resources were disease-specific and local. Half of clinicians shared HealtheRx resource information with peers; sharers were three times more likely than non-sharers to feel they were well-informed about resources to address social needs (55% versus 18%, p<0.01). Information sharing by clinicians and patients is an understudied mechanism that could amplify the effects of a growing class of community resource referral information technologies.