Few would argue that there is compelling evidence for the feasibility and efficacy of Internet interventions generally. Studies continue to be conducted further establishing the science of eHealth programs in a growing number of areas, populations, and intervention types. Deconstruction studies are now being conducted to understand the active ingredients of these programs allowing for greater refinement and even better outcomes. However, a major problem has emerged – how to make empirically validated interventions available once the research funding ends. Dissemination of effective eHealth programs is the next major undertaking in the field. Without dissemination, the research that has been conducted is meaningless. But moving interventions into the ‘real world’ is not straight-forward and there are enormous hurdles to overcome in doing so. These hurdles vary given a number of issues including the type of intervention, diverse laws and differing levels of government involvement and support across countries, and people’s willingness and interest of adoption. One particularly sensitive topic that many researchers and academics have struggled with is the idea of commercialization. Attitudes surrounding this issue appear to be shifting with a greater appreciation and, perhaps, acceptance that this may be one of the more viable paths for disseminating. However, with commercialization, additional concerns emerge which must be addressed, including issues of ethics, data integrity, biases, and conflicts of interest.he type of intervention, different laws in different countries, government in
This panel will focus on many of the key issues in disseminating Internet interventions, particularly through commercialization. The panelists for this session have all been working to disseminate eHealth programs and will share many of their lessons learned. There will also be an opportunity for questions from the audience to be raised and discussed. Panelists include Mark Willems, CEO of minddistrict (www.mindistrict.com); George Reynolds, President and CEO of Health Decision Technologies (www.healthdecisiontechnologies.com); and Simon Wilson, Clinical Director at Big White Wall (www.bigwhitewall.com). The session will be chaired by Lee Ritterband, Professor at University of Virginia and co-founder of BeHealth Solutions (www.behealthsolutions.com).
