The Promise and Challenge of eHealth Interventions

OBJECTIVE: To discuss how health behavior researchers can use the Internet to study and intervene on health behavior. METHODS: Describe how the Internet is increasingly able to offer a viable medium for health behavior intervention and the challenges and opportunities inherent in conducting online interventions and research. RESULTS: The challenges of eHealth include coping with the additional demands of development, finding ways to reach "hard-to-reach" audiences, and maintaining privacy and security while monitoring participant use. CONCLUSIONS: Health behavior researchers and interventionists need to learn to apply eHealth tools to extend their ability to study and influence health behavior.