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TopA defining characteristic of eHealth care is that a participant can access services from their home or other place where they use the Internet. The current primary eHealth functions include video conferences between a physician and their patient, web sites devoted to information and reference materials, and support groups linked to each other through social media. These modalities are differentiated from other forms of care delivered via computers that are not typically delivered online. For examples of these, we note computer-based activities such as rehabilitation games that must be done in an outpatient clinic (Kato, 2010, 2012; Lange et al., 2009), or complex health interventions such as Graduated Exposure Therapies provided by a Virtual Reality simulation that must be monitored and controlled by a therapist (Gerardi et al., 2008; Gerardi et al., 2010; Rizzo et al., 2010). Even though extremely beneficial and in growing use, these activities are not included within the scope of this paper.
Oh, et al. (2005) state that not only is today’s eHealth technology considered a tool in and of itself, it is generally considered a helpful expansion for the human-to-human connection, not as a replacement for this interaction. Eisenbach (2001) goes even further in describing eHealth as “a state-of-mind, a way of thinking, an attitude, and a commitment for networked, global thinking, to improve health care locally, regionally, and worldwide by using information and communication technology.”