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1. wellwomen.rwh.org.au Development of the Well Women’s Website
Presented by
Maureen Johnson - Women’s Health Consumer Information November 2003 The Well Women’s Website
wellwomen.rwh.org.au
My role is to develop health information for women at the Royal Women’s Hospital. I work within the hospital’s health promotion program absolutely women’s health.
The Well Women’s Website
wellwomen.rwh.org.au
My role is to develop health information for women at the Royal Women’s Hospital. I work within the hospital’s health promotion program absolutely women’s health.
2. Context:
For those who don’t know the Royal Women’s Hospital is part of Women’s and Children’s Health which comprises both the Royal Children’s Hospital and the Royal Women’s Hospital.
The Royal Women’s comprises a number of different programs and absolutely is one of a collection of services that makes up the women’s health program
In some ways it is a marriage of convenience but the overall flavor of what we do is to encourage women to take an pro active interest in health and wellness.
The Well Women’s Website belongs to the Women’s Health Program and each of those services plays a part in maintaining it. However the site tends to be driven by absolutely women’s health and the Women’s Health Information Centre.
This is mainly due to the fact that those services are involved with the day to day delivery of a wide range of health information and consequently tend to have their fingers on the pulse in terms of what women are asking, what information they would like and how they would like it.
The third important player in the site is the Women’s and Children’s Education Resource Centre or ERC.
I will just briefly explain the role of these three services
Context:
For those who don’t know the Royal Women’s Hospital is part of Women’s and Children’s Health which comprises both the Royal Children’s Hospital and the Royal Women’s Hospital.
The Royal Women’s comprises a number of different programs and absolutely is one of a collection of services that makes up the women’s health program
In some ways it is a marriage of convenience but the overall flavor of what we do is to encourage women to take an pro active interest in health and wellness.
The Well Women’s Website belongs to the Women’s Health Program and each of those services plays a part in maintaining it. However the site tends to be driven by absolutely women’s health and the Women’s Health Information Centre.
This is mainly due to the fact that those services are involved with the day to day delivery of a wide range of health information and consequently tend to have their fingers on the pulse in terms of what women are asking, what information they would like and how they would like it.
The third important player in the site is the Women’s and Children’s Education Resource Centre or ERC.
I will just briefly explain the role of these three services
3. What we do
create health promoting opportunities for a diverse community of women
maintain a constant dialogue with women
produce quality evidence-based information
introduce women to the range of wellness services available in the hospital
absolutely women’s health More about absolutely women’s health
What makes our program unique is that we are promoting the social model of health from within a tertiary hospital – which is consistent with the Women’s Health and Well-Being Strategy .
More about absolutely women’s health
What makes our program unique is that we are promoting the social model of health from within a tertiary hospital – which is consistent with the Women’s Health and Well-Being Strategy .
4. We do this through forums
debates
live theatre events
art exhibitions
multicultural lunches
conferences
Instinct (our magazine)
We do this throughWe do this through
5. About WHIC The Women’s Health Information Centre is a:
free library service
confidential drop-in, telephone or email advice service – staffed by women’s health nurses
drop-in STI and pregnancy testing service
a nice place to hang out, look at books, watch a health- related video and to access the Better Health Channel or Well Women’s Website
The Women's Health information centre is
More about the ERC
The Educational Resource Centre provides a range creative services to the Women’s & Children’s Health services and the wider community.
§ design
§ photography
§ video
§ web development
Because the centre has had many years of experience in health care and, in particular women’s and children’s health, they have a particular understanding of our target audience and are able to work with us to move toward the product that we want. They are also able to advise us on the site within the context of the hospital’s wider vision.
They are the three services that drive the site and ensure that the site is always evolving.
The Women's Health information centre is
More about the ERC
The Educational Resource Centre provides a range creative services to the Women’s & Children’s Health services and the wider community.
§ design
§ photography
§ video
§ web development
Because the centre has had many years of experience in health care and, in particular women’s and children’s health, they have a particular understanding of our target audience and are able to work with us to move toward the product that we want. They are also able to advise us on the site within the context of the hospital’s wider vision.
They are the three services that drive the site and ensure that the site is always evolving.
6. The Education Resource Centre The ERC provides the following creative services:
photography
design
video
Web design
The Women's Health information centre is
More about the ERC
The Educational Resource Centre provides a range creative services to the Women’s & Children’s Health services and the wider community.
§ design
§ photography
§ video
§ web development
Because the centre has had many years of experience in health care and, in particular women’s and children’s health, they have a particular understanding of our target audience and are able to work with us to move toward the product that we want. They are also able to advise us on the site within the context of the hospital’s wider vision.
They are the three services that drive the site and ensure that the site is always evolving.
The Women's Health information centre is
More about the ERC
The Educational Resource Centre provides a range creative services to the Women’s & Children’s Health services and the wider community.
§ design
§ photography
§ video
§ web development
Because the centre has had many years of experience in health care and, in particular women’s and children’s health, they have a particular understanding of our target audience and are able to work with us to move toward the product that we want. They are also able to advise us on the site within the context of the hospital’s wider vision.
They are the three services that drive the site and ensure that the site is always evolving.
7. Background information What women said about our original site:
Jazz it up
Smaller graphics
Good content - needs better design for easier navigation and visual appeal
Boring design - lacks content, credibility or depth
I hope to use your website more often with both my year 10 and 12 health classes
Background to the Well Women’s website
Our original site was developed in ’97 and it looked very different to the one we have now.
Its primary purpose was to promote the well women’s services and forums and events run by the health promotion unit absolutely women’s health.
Members of absolutely women’s health were the main users of the site and the main reason for using it was to find out what forums were on and how to book for them.
The site was very unattractive and cumbersome and we were all very aware that it needed to be reworked. We had some pretty ambitious ideas about what we wanted from a new site. But in the spirit of community participation we decided to ask our consumers what they thought. A survey went out through our newsletter Instinct and through our extensive email list and our web development committee also had consumer members.
Comments included . . .
What people wanted – simplicity, easy to use, nice to look at, credible information, easy to navigate.
Background to the Well Women’s website
Our original site was developed in ’97 and it looked very different to the one we have now.
Its primary purpose was to promote the well women’s services and forums and events run by the health promotion unit absolutely women’s health.
Members of absolutely women’s health were the main users of the site and the main reason for using it was to find out what forums were on and how to book for them.
The site was very unattractive and cumbersome and we were all very aware that it needed to be reworked. We had some pretty ambitious ideas about what we wanted from a new site. But in the spirit of community participation we decided to ask our consumers what they thought. A survey went out through our newsletter Instinct and through our extensive email list and our web development committee also had consumer members.
Comments included . . .
What people wanted – simplicity, easy to use, nice to look at, credible information, easy to navigate.
8. We need a website to: promote our services, forums and events
allow for registration to our events
provide relevant up-to-date information – including cost effective multilingual information
provide information from forums
keep our members up-to-date
increase access to advice and information from the Women’s Health Information Centre
provide another way for women to participate in our program
Why do we need a website
It’s very difficult to be a health promotion service these days without having a website. But of course that is not a good enough reason to have one.
The literature at the time told as that women were not using the web as much as men but that they were the fastest growing users of the Internet and that health was one of the main reasons that women accessed the Internet.
Through our work with consumers and health care providers we were able to come up with a list of reasons as to why a web presence would be worthwhile for us:
Why do we need a website
It’s very difficult to be a health promotion service these days without having a website. But of course that is not a good enough reason to have one.
The literature at the time told as that women were not using the web as much as men but that they were the fastest growing users of the Internet and that health was one of the main reasons that women accessed the Internet.
Through our work with consumers and health care providers we were able to come up with a list of reasons as to why a web presence would be worthwhile for us:
9. The Site
Our site was developed in the context of an enormous overhaul the Women’s & Children’s Health site.
The ERC had introduced a content management system, which meant that all the hospital content had to be developed within a template.
The network’s vision
to develop a site that appealed to a broad community of health professionals, academics, government, media as well as potential and existing patients.
It was important for Women’s and Children’s Health to have an online presence that was very professional, corporate and clean.
We received a grant to develop our site and we were initially tempted to employ the services of an outside company. This was because we were convinced that we would have to fit within the corporate image of the hospital and that there would be no flexibility to develop the site to suit our perceived target group. While we appreciated what the network was trying to achieve we were very keen to have a site that had a sense of warmth, fun and creativity.
We wanted it to appeal to a range of women – older, younger and culturally diverse. We wanted it to reflect the kind of program we are and to present a face of the hospital that is a little less austere.
The ERC convinced us to keep it in the family. And as it turns out we are very pleased they did. Being a part of the wider network gives our users access to a wider range of information and conversely – people who access the RWH website invariably look at the Well Women’s Website.
It also gives the wider hospital community a sense of ownership over the site and a desire to participate, or to be part of the work that we do. If an issue comes up it is often the case that staff who would not normally have much to do with our services are asking about the possibility of raising the issue on the Well Women’s Website.
The challenge for the designers at the ERC was to fulfil our design brief within the hospital’s content management template.
I think they succeeded.
The Site
Our site was developed in the context of an enormous overhaul the Women’s & Children’s Health site.
The ERC had introduced a content management system, which meant that all the hospital content had to be developed within a template.
The network’s vision
to develop a site that appealed to a broad community of health professionals, academics, government, media as well as potential and existing patients.
It was important for Women’s and Children’s Health to have an online presence that was very professional, corporate and clean.
We received a grant to develop our site and we were initially tempted to employ the services of an outside company. This was because we were convinced that we would have to fit within the corporate image of the hospital and that there would be no flexibility to develop the site to suit our perceived target group. While we appreciated what the network was trying to achieve we were very keen to have a site that had a sense of warmth, fun and creativity.
We wanted it to appeal to a range of women – older, younger and culturally diverse. We wanted it to reflect the kind of program we are and to present a face of the hospital that is a little less austere.
The ERC convinced us to keep it in the family. And as it turns out we are very pleased they did. Being a part of the wider network gives our users access to a wider range of information and conversely – people who access the RWH website invariably look at the Well Women’s Website.
It also gives the wider hospital community a sense of ownership over the site and a desire to participate, or to be part of the work that we do. If an issue comes up it is often the case that staff who would not normally have much to do with our services are asking about the possibility of raising the issue on the Well Women’s Website.
The challenge for the designers at the ERC was to fulfil our design brief within the hospital’s content management template.
I think they succeeded.
10. The look for the site and the site’s architecture were debated over and over again. Even after the site was launched and to this day we are moving things around, changing graphical elements, finding errors and discovering that what is intuitive to us is totally nonsensical to someone else – and that’s the beauty of it.
Important features on the home page include
Images
A young woman who had produced a range of illustrations for us before was asked to produce a diverse range of women’s faces. Anyone who has looked at our site closely would know that even those have changed over the two years that the site has been around.
The women’s health information image has become a logo for the WHIC and so it appears on all of their advertising materials including the WHIC card which is distributed far and wide. The other images are on banners that hang outside the centre.
Roll over
As you roll over the images you get a brief summary of the content of that area. The images match up to the side bar in all but one instance, which I will talk about later on.
The bread crumb
Lets you know that we are within the Royal Women’s and indeed Women’s and Children’s Health.
The search function
Gives women the capacity to search within our site or to search the entire network.
Multilingual information
The front page also includes direct links to the multilingual information for women whose first language is one of the 16 here.
I’ll talk about that later on
The look for the site and the site’s architecture were debated over and over again. Even after the site was launched and to this day we are moving things around, changing graphical elements, finding errors and discovering that what is intuitive to us is totally nonsensical to someone else – and that’s the beauty of it.
Important features on the home page include
Images
A young woman who had produced a range of illustrations for us before was asked to produce a diverse range of women’s faces. Anyone who has looked at our site closely would know that even those have changed over the two years that the site has been around.
The women’s health information image has become a logo for the WHIC and so it appears on all of their advertising materials including the WHIC card which is distributed far and wide. The other images are on banners that hang outside the centre.
Roll over
As you roll over the images you get a brief summary of the content of that area. The images match up to the side bar in all but one instance, which I will talk about later on.
The bread crumb
Lets you know that we are within the Royal Women’s and indeed Women’s and Children’s Health.
The search function
Gives women the capacity to search within our site or to search the entire network.
Multilingual information
The front page also includes direct links to the multilingual information for women whose first language is one of the 16 here.
I’ll talk about that later on
11. What’s new for women
This is an important feature of the site for us. We promote all of our events and other health promoting events in the hospital. We might also use this to promote a new feature on the site or a new publication.
Every time we run an event or forum people who were unable to attend will ask us about papers – in fact people just seem to expect now that papers will be available online after a forum.
What’s new for women
This is an important feature of the site for us. We promote all of our events and other health promoting events in the hospital. We might also use this to promote a new feature on the site or a new publication.
Every time we run an event or forum people who were unable to attend will ask us about papers – in fact people just seem to expect now that papers will be available online after a forum.
12. Topic of the Month
The topic of the month is one of our more popular areas and I think important because it lets people know we are still alive.
Topic of the Month
The topic of the month is one of our more popular areas and I think important because it lets people know we are still alive.
13. The topic is endometriosis but we’ve had a range of info in the past including the hospital’s response to the HRT scandal, a piece written by a young grad nurse on young women and depression.
The information is sometimes factual sometimes editorial.
The topic is endometriosis but we’ve had a range of info in the past including the hospital’s response to the HRT scandal, a piece written by a young grad nurse on young women and depression.
The information is sometimes factual sometimes editorial.
14. The current topic was written by doctors in the endometriosis clinic and will eventually become one of our fact sheets. It is still being tested with consumers and in fact our consumers will be asked to look at the information online and feedback to us.
It has not always been monthly and there was some discussion about whether we should still call it ‘topic of the month’ rather than say ‘current topics’ but we’ve decided to keep the pressure on ourselves and attempt to maintain the monthly vigil.
The current topic was written by doctors in the endometriosis clinic and will eventually become one of our fact sheets. It is still being tested with consumers and in fact our consumers will be asked to look at the information online and feedback to us.
It has not always been monthly and there was some discussion about whether we should still call it ‘topic of the month’ rather than say ‘current topics’ but we’ve decided to keep the pressure on ourselves and attempt to maintain the monthly vigil.
15. Women’s health Information
The women’s health information area includes current information – newsy stuff that we know people will go looking for because it’s been on the news or we’ve advertised something. Women’s health Information
The women’s health information area includes current information – newsy stuff that we know people will go looking for because it’s been on the news or we’ve advertised something.
16. Originally we only had the Women’s Health Information Centre in this section but we found that people often came here in search of publications and forum notes. So we thought we’d turn this in to a clearinghouse for all ‘information’ even though most of this stuff can also be accessed from elsewhere.
All of the hospital publications can be ordered through here
Originally we only had the Women’s Health Information Centre in this section but we found that people often came here in search of publications and forum notes. So we thought we’d turn this in to a clearinghouse for all ‘information’ even though most of this stuff can also be accessed from elsewhere.
All of the hospital publications can be ordered through here
17. And our online fact sheets are accessible through here as well although they also have their own button on the front page.
And our online fact sheets are accessible through here as well although they also have their own button on the front page.
19. Absolutely women’s health
Absolutely women’s health is simply a description of what we do. But I’m on a mission to tart it up and throw in some images from our activities.
Absolutely women’s health
Absolutely women’s health is simply a description of what we do. But I’m on a mission to tart it up and throw in some images from our activities.
20. Instinct is the newsletter of absolutely women’s health. Each edition takes a theme and explores it with a range of fascinating and adventurous women.
This edition explored the range of medical and non-medical approaches to menopause and the controversy within.
We decided to produce it as a HTML document rather than a PDF of the actual magazine because we thought that it was the kind of document that people prefer to read online rather that print out. The PDF version of the newsletter is actually quite difficult to read online.
Instinct is the newsletter of absolutely women’s health. Each edition takes a theme and explores it with a range of fascinating and adventurous women.
This edition explored the range of medical and non-medical approaches to menopause and the controversy within.
We decided to produce it as a HTML document rather than a PDF of the actual magazine because we thought that it was the kind of document that people prefer to read online rather that print out. The PDF version of the newsletter is actually quite difficult to read online.
21. Fact Sheets
The fact sheet component of our site has significantly improved our capacity to produce quality up-to-date information on a range of topics in a number of languages.
Fact Sheets
The fact sheet component of our site has significantly improved our capacity to produce quality up-to-date information on a range of topics in a number of languages.
22. When all of our material was printed there was a lost of wastage and a lot of cost involved with updating and reprinting.
With this system hospital staff can easily print out information that they need.
It also provides more access to our information.
Multilingual fact sheets
Multilingual information was a particular challenge before we had a web presence. For all kinds of reasons, it wasn’t unusual to print information and to throw it out months later because was already out of date.
Having information online in other languages means that:
it is readily available to women
health care workers have easy access to the information and can easily print it and pass it on to women
it can be updated by simply emailing the PDF to the translating service
it can be constantly checked by our interpreter service for cultural appropriateness and any problems can be dealt with then and there rather than waiting for the next print run.
Our vision is to have websites in other languages that mirror the Well Women’s Site. The technology is available out there to do it but we have neither the money nor resources to be able purchase the appropriate software or hardware that is required and the staff to be able to maintain the sites.
Meanwhile we have done as much as we can to ensure that English speakers can access the information to pass onto clients.
When all of our material was printed there was a lost of wastage and a lot of cost involved with updating and reprinting.
With this system hospital staff can easily print out information that they need.
It also provides more access to our information.
Multilingual fact sheets
Multilingual information was a particular challenge before we had a web presence. For all kinds of reasons, it wasn’t unusual to print information and to throw it out months later because was already out of date.
Having information online in other languages means that:
it is readily available to women
health care workers have easy access to the information and can easily print it and pass it on to women
it can be updated by simply emailing the PDF to the translating service
it can be constantly checked by our interpreter service for cultural appropriateness and any problems can be dealt with then and there rather than waiting for the next print run.
Our vision is to have websites in other languages that mirror the Well Women’s Site. The technology is available out there to do it but we have neither the money nor resources to be able purchase the appropriate software or hardware that is required and the staff to be able to maintain the sites.
Meanwhile we have done as much as we can to ensure that English speakers can access the information to pass onto clients.
23.
25. And women can also access the information directly And women can also access the information directly
30. Talk to a health nurse
Finally we wanted women to have the capacity to talk to our women’s health midwives in women’s health information service. So we set up the talk to a health nurse button.
Talk to a health nurse
Finally we wanted women to have the capacity to talk to our women’s health midwives in women’s health information service. So we set up the talk to a health nurse button.
31. Women have the capacity to contact a midwife and usually get a response within a day. It’s not as well used as we thought it would be, in fact we were concerned that it would be too difficult to manage but we’re probably receiving only about one to two enquiries a day.
Women have the capacity to contact a midwife and usually get a response within a day. It’s not as well used as we thought it would be, in fact we were concerned that it would be too difficult to manage but we’re probably receiving only about one to two enquiries a day.
32. The last button leads to our sister site for young, pregnant and parenting women. The last button leads to our sister site for young, pregnant and parenting women.
33. It includes a range of health information and will include the capacity for young women to chat and tell their stories.It includes a range of health information and will include the capacity for young women to chat and tell their stories.
35. Promoting the site Launch
Articles in regional and metro newspapers and relevant newsletters
Postcards distributed in universities, café strips and health services
Promotion card for the Women’s Health Information Centre distributed through telephone information line, hospital services
Email signatures, answering machine waiting messages
Reciprocal link arrangements
36. Positive feedback Comments included:
Good images clean, easy to navigate
Colourful, friendly, good use of design
Good range of areas covered…excellent visually
Easy to access parts of the site – great ideas – not too fussy
Fast to download and easy to navigate through different areas. Information was easy to read and understand
37. Constructive criticism Some of the negatives
Maybe you could include a box where you could type in what you’re looking for
Download is a little slow on my computer and the colours are a bit dull
Need more links to Australian sites with similar information
Not enough images
Text on the left hand bar is a little small/hard to read. Full screen not viewable in all browsers – right hand side is cut off (I have to scroll to use search function)
38. Improvements we have made Some improvements we have made since inception
Improved search function
Structure
More ways to get a particular result
Remove any possibility of horizontal scrolling
Increased topic papers
Increased links
39. We are working on Email forums
Increasing information
Further evaluation
Promotion of the site
