Table 1 User health information exchange needs

The adolescents exhibited impressive knowledge and had no shortage of simple health advice; they rather challenged traditional tenets of diet and exercise, not because they distrusted health advice, but because they distrusted everything. They did not lack information, but rather a method to discern the true from the false. Since almost everything health-related they know of is presented with the agenda of selling them a product, their rule of thumb was to generally disregard everything

The experience should be educational

Even though the adolescents disregarded information provided by health care organizations, they did believe that physicians and nurses could provide genuine useful advice. However, they also wanted a personal comment regarding their questions, not general advice addressing everyone

Personal advice from health professionals

Exploring subjects and seeing the point of view of others in discussion forums and boards was both appreciated and utilized among the adolescents; however, they had experienced saturation where the discussion was halted either because of lack of experts with more knowledge to inject into the discussion, or where a debate turned sour ending without any means to verify or check the validity of the claims given by either party

Discussions in which experts participate

The adolescents belong to a generation where most of their information sources are online and funded by ads, and where additional pages, reloads, and links increase the revenue of the website. It therefore was reported to be both a tedious and confusing task to access the content sought after

Easy accessible content

Most health-related information provided online was reported to be both abstract and general, or specific but provided to sell products. This included information from governmental sources and information from health care providers. There was reported a lack of information regarding the subjects they cared about and wanted to know more about

Information about our interests

Reading about faulty but widely held beliefs was seen as entertaining and informative, and the adolescents were fully aware that commercial interests both skewed the facts to push products, and also outright lied if they could get away with it. Having health professionals call this out was reported to be an exciting prospect

Dismantling of myths and misconceptions

Diets and types of exercise was an area where it was seen as very difficult to find useful information. Information from commercial interests was entirely distrusted, and since both diet and types of exercise are not only a comparison of efficiency, but also experience, sharing experiences among themselves was seen as valuable

Be able to share tips and experiences

The aesthetics of websites was reported to be used as a tool to determine the underlying agenda, trustworthiness, and target group of the website. In this process, very attractive sites could be immediately dismissed because it was apparent that such sites were drafted to push products. A clean, simple, professional site with a clear manifesto and clear agenda was seen as important for credibility among the adolescents

Professional and serious

One critique of the communication from the scientific community and health care providers was its reliance on a wall of text. Adolescents are sometimes accused of lacking attention span and in need of simple accessible short bursts of information. However, the adolescents reported that they were so overwhelmed by information that it has become necessary to be able to use heuristics to determine gold from grit. There was no aversion to in-depth information; rather there is a need to have very concise and simple introductions

Concise presentation

Even good communities were reported to be shunned because of bad manners and uncivil conduct. Moreover, it was emphasized that once a community gets a certain vibe, it sticks forever

Maintain a civil discourse