Masters in Information Systems

Tomorrow's leaders in health promotion are being educated at American University today.

APPENDIX 3

NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION OF THE RESULTS

SECTION I: YOUR COMPUTING HABITS

Table 3. Perceived Worth of Computers at Work

Item # 1 Perceived Worth of Computers at Work

Rating	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Very Unimportant	34	25.4	25.8	25.8
Unimportant	0	0	0	25.8
Average Importance	2	1.5	1.5	27.3
Important	22	16.4	16.7	43.9
Very Important	74	55.2	56.1	100.0
Total Responses	132	98.5	100.0
Missing values	2	1.5
Total Respondents	134	100.0

The first item is an assessment item to address research question one. It was designed to assess the respondents attitudes toward the perceived worth of computers at work. Almost three quarters of the respondents (72.8%) rated the worth of computers positively, with over half (56.1%) indicating that they were 'very important' while others (16.7%) chose 'important'. These high ratings indicate that the respondents perceive computers to be important tools in their work. Interestingly, 25.8% of those surveyed responded that computers were 'very unimportant' in their work. The large cluster of respondents (81.9%) at the extreme ends of the continuum is an intriguing phenomenon. In item 11 (Table 22) this data has been compared with the perceived worth ratings of computers in health promotion activities with clients.

Table 4. Computer Use Required at Work

Item # 2 Required to Use a Computer at Work

Required	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Yes	126	94.0	94.0	94.0
No	8	6.0	6.0	100.0
Total Respondents	134	100.0	100.0

The first research question was addressed by several items (2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 12, and 14) that were designed to assess the respondent's patterns of use with computers. When asked if they were required to use a computer at work, 94% of those surveyed indicated that computers were required. This extremely high rating indicates how pervasive computers are in the working environment for this population.

Table 5. Years Using a Computer

Item # 3 Total Number of Years Using a Computer

Number of Years	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	0	0	0	0
0-2 Years	3	2.2	2.2	2.2
3-4 Years	8	6.0	6.0	8.2
5-9 Years	57	42.5	42.5	50.7
10 or more Years	66	49.2	49.2	100.0
Total Respondents	134	100.0	100.0

A very high number of respondents indicated that they were very experienced computer users. Over ninety percent (91.7%) of those surveyed indicated that they had used computers for five-or-more years, while almost half (49.2%) said they had used computers for 10-or-more years. Clearly, this group is very familiar and experienced with computers.

The respondents indicated that they were heavy users of computers during the workday, which is consistent with the computer experience data from item number three.

Table 6. Hours per Day Using a Computer

Item # 4 Average Number of Hours Using a Computer Per Day

Time per day	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	0	0	0	0
Less than 1 hour	5	3.7	3.8	3.8
1-2 Hours	20	14.9	15.0	18.8
3-4 Hours	48	35.8	36.1	54.9
5-6 Hours	40	29.9	30.1	85.0
7 or More Hours	20	14.9	15.0	100.0
Total Responses	133	99.3	100.0
Missing value	1	.7
Total Respondents	134	100.0

Over eighty percent (81.2%) answered that they used their computers for three-or-more hours, while 66.2% used them for five-or-more hours, and 15% used computers for seven-or-more hours per day. This population would be described as moderate-to-heavy users in terms of hours of use per workday.

Table 7. Access to Computers

Item #5 How Much Access You Have

Type of Access	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
No Access	2	1.5	1.5	1.5
Unrestricted	122	91.0	91.7	93.2
Share with others	9	6.7	6.8	100.0
Total Responses	133	99.3	100.0
Missing value	1	.7
Total Respondents	134	100.0

Over ninety percent of the respondents (91.0%) had unrestricted access to a computer at work. Only 6.8% had to share a computer with others. This data is consistent with what would be expected given the responses to item two. Clearly, access to computers does not appear to be a significant barrier for this group.

In item six, two forms of computer training accounted for over eighty percent (80.3%) of the responses. Over forty percent (46.2%) of the respondents stated that they were self-taught, while 34.1% received training at work. Interestingly, very few (6.1%) of those surveyed received computer training through a college course. These data have far-reaching implications for a variety of entities and especially educational institutions. There are significant connotations for health promotion professionals that are related to the development of computer literacy and skills as well as for the adoption of computer and technology-based applications, programs, and systems at work and in their dealings with their clients.

Table 8. Types of Training

Item #6 Your Most Important Form of Computer Training

Type of Training	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Self-taught	61	45.5	46.2	46.2
College Course	8	6.0	6.1	52.3
Training at work	45	33.6	34.1	86.4
Colleague at work	11	8.2	8.3	94.7
Friend	4	3.0	3.0	97.7
Other	3	2.2	2.3	100.0
Total Responses	132	98.5	100.0
Missing value	2	1.5
Total Respondents	134	100.0

The Internet has become a very popular and important tool for many computer users in a short period of time. However, 80% of the respondents in this survey were relatively new to the Internet in that they had been on-line less than five years. Moreover, almost half of the users (49.2%) were in the zero-to-two year category. Of the longer-term users, 31.8% were in the three-to-four year group, 12.1% were in the five-to-six year group, and 3.8% were users for seven-or-more years. The proliferation of the Internet is an important phenomenon now and it will be an interesting trend to monitor in the future.

Table 9. Years on the Internet

Item #7 Number of Years on the Internet

Number of Years	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	4	3.0	3.0	3.0
0-2 Years	65	48.5	49.2	52.3
3-4 Years	42	31.3	31.8	84.1
5-6 Years	16	11.9	12.1	96.2
7 or more Years	5	3.7	3.8	100.0
Total Responses	132	98.5	100.0
Missing value	2	1.5
Total Respondents	134	100.0

Table 10. Hours Per Day on the Internet

Item #8 Average Number of Hours Per Day on the Internet

Number of Hours	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	8	6.0	6.1	6.1
Less than 1	70	52.2	53.4	59.5
1-2 Hours	44	32.8	33.6	93.1
3-4 Hours	6	4.5	4.6	97.7
5-6 Hours	2	1.5	1.5	99.2
7 or more Hours	1	.7	.8	100.0
Total Responses	131	97.8	100.0
Missing Value	3	2.2
Total Respondents	134	100.0

When asked how many hours per day they were on the Internet, only 6.1% of the respondents answered 'never'. Over half (53.4%) of the respondents stated that they were on-line less-than-one hour, while 33.6% were on-line one-to-two hours, and only 6.1% were on-line three-or-more hours. Although it was clear from item four that the respondents were moderate-to-heavy computer users, when compared to some other information-intensive occupations, this population spends a relatively small portion of their time on-line.

Table 11. Company Website

Item #9 Does Your Company Host a Website

Host	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Yes	120	89.6	90.3	90.2
No	7	5.2	5.3	95.5
Don't Know	6	4.5	4.5	100.0
Total	133	99.3	100.0
Missing Value	1	.7
Total Respondents	134	100.0

The Internet has become much more valued and important for many organizations and companies in the last few years. The fact that 90.2% of the respondents indicated that their companies had a Website the respondents validated this statement.

Table 12. Years with a Company Website

Item #9B Number of Years Hosting a Website

Number of Years	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
0-1 Years	28	20.9	24.3	24.3
2-3 Years	53	39.6	46.1	70.4
4 or more Years	19	14.2	16.5	87.0
Don't Know	15	11.2	13.0	100.0
Total Responses	115	85.8	100.0
Missing value	19	14.2
Total Respondents	134	100.0

Hosting Websites is a relatively new phenomenon for most healthcare entities. Of those companies that had a Website, only 16.5% had one for four-or-more years. Seventy percent of the respondents indicated that their company Website had been operational for less-than-four years, with 24.3% of them being in operation for less-than a year, and 46.1% were operating for two-to-three years.

Item 10: Software Applications

In item 10 the respondents were asked about their patterns of use for the most common types of software applications. The frequency data was summarized and valid percents were calculated for each part of the main item. In addition to the general observations from each of the individual cells, in many instances, interesting patterns emerged by combining the data from the two positive and two negative responses on the continuum. The three most frequently used applications were e-mail (95.5%), word processing (93.2%), and Web browsers (64.2%). Graphics packages (65.4%), desktop publishing (62.8%), and database software (55.8%) were the least often used applications in that the respondents said they 'never' or 'rarely' used them.

Table 13. Applications Used - Word Processing

Item #10A Applications Used - Word Processing

How Often	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	1	.7	.8	.8
Rarely	4	3.0	3.0	3.8
Sometimes	4	3.0	3.0	6.8
Often	19	14.2	14.3	21.1
Regularly	105	78.4	78.9	100.0
Total Responses	133	99.3	100.0
Missing value	1	.7
Total Respondents	134	100.0

Of the software applications listed on the survey, word processing was among the most frequently used. Over ninety percent (93.2%) of the respondents indicated that they used word processing 'often' (14.3%) or 'regularly' (78.9%).

More than half of the respondents (55.8%) indicated that they used 'never' (34.1%) or 'rarely' (21.7%) used database software. Only about one quarter of those surveyed said they used it 'often' (9.3%) or 'regularly' (17.8%). Clearly, there is relatively little database-related activity among this population, which is contrary to the trend in many other data intensive industries.

Table 14. Applications Used - Databases

Item #10B Applications Used - Databases

How Often	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	44	32.8	34.1	34 .1
Rarely	28	20.9	21.7	55.8
Sometimes	22	16.4	17.1	72.9
Often	12	9.0	9.3	82.2
Regularly	23	17.2	17.8	100.0
Total Responses	129	96.3	100.0
Missing value	5	3.7
Total Respondents	134	100.0

Table 15. Applications Used - E-mail

Item #10C Applications Used - E-mail

How Often	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	4	3.0	3.0	3.0
Rarely	1	.7	.8	3.8
Sometimes	1	.7	.8	4.5
Often	11	8.2	8.3	12.8
Regularly	116	86.6	87.2	100.0
Total Responses	133	99.3	100.0
Missing value	1	.7
Total Respondents	134	100.0

E-mailing emerged as the most popular software application in the survey with 95.5% of the users indicating that they used it 'regularly' (87.2%) or 'often' (8.3%).

Web browsers, the other widespread Internet-based software application, were popular, but were not used as often as e-mailing. Almost two thirds of the respondents (64.2%) said that they used browsers 'regularly' (40.5%) or (23.7%) 'often'.

From the data it appears that presentation software is well known. Over half (52.0%) of the respondents said they used it 'often' (29.5%) or 'regularly' (22.5%). An additional 22.5% indicated that they used it 'sometimes'.

Table 16. Applications Used - Web browser

Item #10D Applications Used - Web browser

How Often	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	4	3.0	3.1	3.1
Rarely	12	9.0	9.2	12.2
Sometimes	31	23.1	23.7	35.9
Often	31	23.1	23.7	59.5
Regularly	53	39.6	40.5	100.0
Total Responses	131	97.8	100.0
Missing value	3	2.2
Total Respondents	134	100.0

Table 17. Applications Used - Presentation Software

Item #10E Applications Used - Presentation Software

How Often	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	17	12.7	13.2	13.2
Rarely	16	11.9	12.4	25.6
Sometimes	29	21.6	22.5	48.1
Often	38	28.4	29.5	77.5
Regularly	29	21.6	22.5	100.0
Total Responses	129	96.3	100.0
Missing value	5	3.7
Total Respondents	134	100.0

Table 18. Applications Used - Search Engines

Item #10F Applications Used - Search Engine

How Often	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	8	6.0	6.0	6.0
Rarely	15	11.2	11.3	17.3
Sometimes	42	31.3	31.6	48.9
Often	32	23.9	24.1	72.9
Regularly	36	26.9	27.1	100.0
Total Responses	133	99.3	100.0
Missing value	1	.7
Total Respondents	134	100.0

Search engines are a class of software applications that are well know by Internet users. The data indicates that over half (51.2%) of those in the survey said they used it 'often' (24.1%) or 'regularly' (27.1%). Almost one third of the respondents (31.6%) said they used them 'sometimes'.

Table 19. Applications Used - Desktop Publishing

Item #10G Applications Used - Desktop Publishing

How Often	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	50	37.3	38.8	38.8
Rarely	31	23.1	24.0	62.8
Sometimes	22	16.4	17.1	79.8
Often	17	12.7	13.2	93.0
Regularly	9	6.7	7.0	100.0
Total Responses	129	96.3	100.0
Missing value	5	3.7
Total Respondents	134	100.0

Almost two thirds of the respondents, (62.8%) said they 'never' or 'rarely' used desktop publishing applications in their work. Desktop publishing of materials or documents does not appear to be an important task for computers in this sample as only 7.0% said they used it 'regularly'.

Table 20. Applications Used - Graphics Software

Item #10H Applications Used - Graphics Package

How Often	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	52	38.8	40.0	40.0
Rarely	33	24.6	25.4	65.4
Sometimes	21	15.7	16.2	81.5
Often	17	12.7	13.1	94.6
Regularly	7	5.2	5.4	100.0
Total Responses	130	97.0	100.0
Missing value	4	3.0
Total Respondents	134	100.0

Almost two thirds of the respondents (65.4%) of those surveyed indicated that they 'never' or 'rarely' used graphics software. Duties requiring the production or manipulation of graphics does not appear to be an important task for the respondents in this sample as only 5.4% said they used it 'regularly'.

Table 21. Applications Used - Other

Item #10I Applications Used - Other

How Often	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	17	12.7	15.3	15.3
Rarely	19	14.2	17.1	32.4
Sometimes	39	29.1	35.1	67.6
Often	17	12.7	15.3	82.9
Regularly	19	14.2	17.1	100.0
Total Responses	111	82.8	100.0
Missing value	23	17.2
Total Respondents	134	100.0

A mixture of responses were provided about other software applications that were used by this population, however, they were too numerous and diverse to report or categorize for this study.

SECTION II: COMPUTER USE IN HEALTH PROMOTION ACTIVITIES

Table 22. Perceived Worth of Computers in Health Promotion Services for Clients

Item #11 Perceived Worth of Computers in Health

Rating	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Very Unimportant	16	11.9	12.0	12.0
Unimportant	3	2.2	2.3	14.3
Average Importance	29	21.6	21.8	36.1
Important	38	28.4	28.6	64.7
Very Important	47	35.1	35.3	100.0
Total Responses	133	99.3	100.0
Missing value	1	.7
Total Respondents	134	100.0

Item 11 addresses research question number one. Almost two thirds of the respondents (63.9%) indicated that they perceived that computers were either 'important' (28.6%) or 'very important' (35.3%) in their work with their clients. It is worth noting that a significant number of respondents (12.0%) stated that they perceived computers as being very unimportant in working with clients while less than one quarter (21.8%) listed computers as of 'average' importance.

Several intriguing perceived worth observations emerged from the data by comparing the responses from item one (at work) with item 11 (working with clients). When the 'important' and 'very important' scores were combined, the respondents gave lower perceived worth ratings (63.9% to 72.8%) in item 11. They also gave lower ratings (35.3% to 56.1%) in the 'very important' category. However, the ratings for 'very unimportant' (25.8% to 12.0%) were much higher for item one

Table 23. Frequency of Use in Health Promotion Services

Item # 12 How Often Computers Are Used in Health Promotion Services

How Often	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	9	6.7	6.8	6.8
Rarely	17	12.7	12.9	19.7
Sometimes	42	31.3	31.8	51.5
Often	31	23.1	23.5	75.0
Very Often	33	24.6	25.0	100.0
Total Responses	132	98.5	100.0
Missing value	2	1.5
Total Respondents	134	100.0

Almost half of the respondents (48.5%) said they used computers 'often' (23.5%) or 'very often' (25.5%) in the process of providing health promotion services to their clients. Fewer than twenty percent (19.7%) said they 'rarely' (12.9%) or 'never' (6.8%) used them in that capacity.

Table 24. Management Support for the Use of Computers in Health Promotion with Clients

Item #13 What Level of Support for Use of Computers in Health Promotion with Clients

How Much	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
No support	7	5.2	5.4	5.4
Little	13	9.7	10.0	15.4
Some	20	14.9	15.4	30.8
Neither Strong/Weak	7	5.2	5.4	36.2
Strong	34	25.4	26.2	62.3
Very Strong	40	29.9	30.8	93.1
Not Applicable	9	6.7	6.9	100.0
Total Responses	130	97.0	100.0
Missing value	4	3.0
Total Respondents	134	100.0

The data shows that over half of the respondents (57.0%) had either 'strong' (26.2%) or 'very strong' (30.8%) support from management for the use of computers in providing health promotion services to their clients.

Item 14: Use of Computers in Health Promotion by Task

In item 14 the respondents were asked how much of the time they used computers for a variety of tasks and health promotion services for their clients. The frequency data was summarized and valid percents were calculated for each part of the item. In addition to the general observations from each of the individual cells, in many instances, interesting patterns emerged by combining the data from the two positive and two negative responses on the continuum. Of the tasks listed, the combined score for the most prevalent use of computers was for business or management tasks (86.9%), producing materials (83.8%), and communicating with clients (75.8%). Database tasks (50.8%) and research for clients (58.0%) were the most infrequently mentioned tasks by the respondents. Although producing materials was rated highly, from item 10 it is probable that desktop publishing and graphics packagers were most likely not the applications of choice.

Table 25. Computer Use - Business or Management Tasks

Item #14A Computer Use for Health Promotion - Business or Management Tasks

How Often	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	7	5.2	5.4	5.4
Rarely	3	2.2	2.3	7.7
Sometimes	7	5.2	5.4	13.1
Often	25	18.7	19.2	32.3
Regularly	88	65.7	67.7	100.0
Total Responses	130	97.0	100.0
Missing value	4	3.0
Total Respondents	134	100.0

A total of 86.9% of the respondents said they used computers in health promotion for business or management tasks 'regularly' (67.7%) or 'often' (19.2%). This was the highest rated task for the use of computers in health promotion.

Table 26. Computer Use - Communication with Clients

Item #14B Computer Use for Health Promotion - Communicate with My Clients

How Often	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	8	6.0	6.1	6.1
Rarely	12	9.0	9.1	15.2
Sometimes	12	9.0	9.1	24.2
Often	26	19.4	19.7	43.9
Regularly	74	55.2	56.1	100.0
Total Responses	132	98.5	100.0
Missing value	2	1.5
Total Respondents	134	100.0

When asked if they used computers to communicate with their clients, 75.8% said they used them 'often' (19.7%) or 'regularly' (56.1%). It is interesting to note that in item 10C (use of e-mail) 95.5% of the respondents indicated that used e-mail ('regularly' 87.2% or 'often' 8.3%) while only 75.8% of the respondents in this item used it with their clients ('regularly' 56.1% or 19.7% 'often').

It is assumed that the form of communication that respondents were referring to was e-mail, however it is recognized that a portion of them could have been thinking of alternative forms of computer-based communication such as video conferencing, chat, list serves, or instant messaging.

Table 27. Computer Use - Personal Research

Item #14C Computer Use for Health Promotion - Research for Myself

How Often	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	2	1.5	1.5	1.5
Rarely	3	2.2	2.3	3.8
Sometimes	33	24.6	25.2	29.0
Often	34	25.4	26.0	55.0
Regularly	59	44.0	45.0	100.0
Total Responses	131	97.8	100.0
Missing value	3	2.2
Total Respondents	134	100.0

A total of 71% of the respondents indicated that they used computers for health promotion purposes for themselves with 45% of them replying 'regularly' and 26.0% stating 'often'.

Over half (58.0%) of the respondents said they used computers to do research for their clients 'regularly' (29.8%) or (28.2%) 'often'. This is a significant drop in use, mostly in the 'regularly' category, when compared to item 14C. Clearly, this is another area where computers are being used less often for health promotion activities for clients than for general or personal computer tasks.

Table 28. Computer Use - Research for Clients

Item #14D Computer Use for Health Promotion - Research for My Clients

How Often	Number	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Never	10	7.5	7.6	7.6
Rarely	12	9.0	9.2	16.8
Sometimes	33	24.6	25.2	42.0
Often	37	27.6	28.2	70.2
Regularly	39	29.1	29.8	100.0
Total Responses	131	97.8	100.0
Missing value	3	2.2
Total Respondents	134	1