Visiting Netherlands researcher at crucial intersection of Internet and health promotion

Rik Crutzen has visited enough health websites to know that too few of them are doing a good enough job of attracting and retaining viewers. That’s because they are either too institutional, too technical, or in the bluntest sense, too boring.

Long-term, that can be a big problem for health agencies trying to impart valuable information and advice to their audiences and the general public – whether that information is about smoking cessation, cancer prevention or medical conditions like hepatitus.

Crutzen, a researcher from the Department of Health Promotion at the CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care in the Netherlands, is a visiting scholar at the Beedie School of Business this year. He is working with award-winning Beedie School of Business faculty member Dianne Cyr on e-loyalty and website content issues in the context of health care and health promotion and marketing.

“I see it (health promotion) as a field to apply knowledge,” said Crutzen, who has a background in psychology. “This is a field where there is a real need for this kind of knoweldge”. His study with Professor Cyr, using eye-tracking technology, will examine how websites can attract and hold a visitor’s attention.

And they will focus in on how website perception influences action. As Crutzen explains by way of a question, “If people like it more, will they use it more?”

Another key aspect he and Cyr will explore is what Crutzen describes as “social presence — which can be seen as the extent to which a medium is perceived to convey a feeling of human contact, sociability, and sensitivity.” Content such as photos, testimonials and patient stories will all be measured for their impact on this presence.

It’s important that health promotion websites keep people involved and interested, he says. “Those who use the site more will remember more of the information.”

Crutzen completed his PhD at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Since arriving in Vancouver, Crutzen has admired the diversity of the Pacific Rim city’s population. “Everyone is from somewhere else, which is different from the Netherlands. There is a lot of mobility.”