Promoting women's health via the World Wide Web.

Women, as a segment of society at risk for chronic illnesses and complications from normal life events, such as pregnancy and menopause, are seeking information to improve their health status. One tool on the World Wide Web provided by a team of Ohio health care providers, including nurses, physicians, pharmacists, and dietitians, is the Ask an Expert feature of NetWellness. Designed as a consumer health information resource, NetWellness (www.netwellness.org) also is a valuable tool to health care professionals.

Sensitive topics and adolescents: making research about risk behaviors happen.

This article discusses conducting research with adolescents as a positive experience, both from a clinical and scholarly perspective. However, topics involving risk-taking behaviors may be especially difficult for adolescents to discuss openly. To implement research protocols with the adolescent population, particularly when dealing with risk-taking behaviors, investigators need to be aware of developmental challenges that warrant specific methodological choices. In a pilot study that involved adolescents who had been hospitalized for traumatic injury, the researchers gained valuable experience in conducting a study on substance use. Experiences with the study provide direction for future research about investigating sensitive topics with adolescents.

Linking learning with health behaviors of high school adolescents.

The school is becoming an increasingly popular site for child health nursing. Whether or not practitioners are advanced practice nurses (APNs), school nurses, or graduate or undergraduate nursing students, they can provide effective health promotion and primary prevention in the schools. This article reports on the state of the science regarding cholesterol, nutrition, and exercise education with teens and describes a health promotion program about this topic with 23 high school biology students. Outcomes indicate that an adolescent population of high school biology students can be receptive to education about their health behaviors.

Nursing's role in NetWellness: a children and adolescent health information resource via the Web.

Nurses are in the business of health information. A nursing entrepreneurial model of service for children and adolescents is providing health education and health promotion through the World Wide Web. Developed at the University of Cincinnati, and later joined by The Ohio State University and Case Western Reserve University, NetWellness (http:/(/)www.netwellness.org) offers easily accessible and reliable health care information. The Ask an Expert feature is valued by parents, families, children and health professionals around the United States and the world. As members of the NetWellness expert team in Ohio, nurses are leaders in this initiative.

Nursing the community in cyberspace.

As nursing expands more into the community, the role of health promotion is finding its way on the information superhighway. Through NetWellness, nursing faculty experts at the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing and Health are providing health care information via the internet. Not only is the world wide web a site of their nursing practice, but also faculty are identifying new linkages to add to the College's curriculum.