Developing and Using Interactive Health CD-ROMs as a Complement to Primary Care: Lessons From Two Research Studies

Interactive health technologies (IHTs), whether used as an adjunct to clinical care or as a stand-alone program, provide a means to efficiently deliver both standardized information and tailored health interventions to a large number of patients. This article describes the benefits and drawbacks to the use of read-only memory compact disks (CD-ROMs) to facilitate diabetes self-management, using the experience from two efficacy trials with CD-ROMs as the primary modality for intervention. The CD-ROMs were designed to promote health behavior change and prevent complications by increasing attention to diabetes care guidelines and providing tailored self-management plans to patients with type 2 diabetes. Lessons learned from these two studies are shared to answer the question:does the use of CD-ROMs as an intervention tool address the key barriers to using a self-management approach in primary care? We conclude by discussing the advantages and limitations of using CD-ROMs to deliver health interventions, along with recommendations for maximizing the potential of IHTs.