Telehealth: INTEGRATING TELEHEALTH AND MEDIA
RADIO PSYCHOLOGY
Marie-Helene Pelletier, MA, December, 1999
Various issues have emerged as a result of the increasingly combined use of
the Internet and the media. As a researcher for a radio and internet show
about psychology, I have examined how radio and the internet work in
conjunction to educate the public about psychology in easily digested ways.
It appears that the activities we do may fit into the broader definition of
innovative telEhealth applications.
One of these applications is creating interaction through the use of the
Internet. Listeners e-mail the show's host, and also post messages on our
public bulletin board system. In addition, the internet allows me to easily
recruit experts for the show from all over the world. Last, because the
show is broadcast on our website over streaming audio, it is accessible
from virtually anywhere in the world.
In developing such a show, one area that is of particular importance is the
quality of information that is offered on-line and on the air. Our weekly
guests are experts in their field, and the host of the show is an
experienced registered psychologist. These characteristics allow us to
provide credible, helpful, and up to date information to our listeners
around the world, while simultaneously providing it in an ethical manner.
We have found that radio technology can be combined with other distance
technologies such as the internet to provide mental health information as
well as create opportunities for people to interact and ask questions about
mental health from a distance. Moreover, all of this can be done in an
ethical and responsible way.
In summary, the combinations of modern distance technologies (such as
radio) can, by generating public interest and informing people about mental
health issues, be part of the care continuum by playing a major role in
making psychology more accessible to the public.
Marie-Helene Pelletier, MA, is the researcher for the
radio and Internet show called ShrinkRap, and she is also a doctoral student
at the University of British Columbia. ShrinkRap
can be listened to at www.wilsonbanwell.com.
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