Net 102 Week 3 Topic 1.4 Health: What my doctor didn’t tell me TASK 1.4 (assignment 1)

Net 102 Week 3 Topic 1.4 Health: What my doctor didn't tell me.  Task 1.4 (assignment 1)

 Select a particular health topic that interests you for any reason (it could be a friend or relative's medical condition, for instance). Find out more about the topic using the Internet. While you are doing this, note down the main ways you'll begin looking and your process of selecting useful sites. How would you say your knowledge of the topic has changed in the course of this research? What are the criteria by which you'd select sites? Finally, briefly describe 2-3 of the most useful sites and Internet applications and the ways in which they'd be useful to people visiting them. Not more than 500 words.

I decided to investigate depression as it is a condition that not only affects my life but that of many others.
I opened an internet browser and typed DEPRESSION in the search box.
There are, according to the Bing search, over 64,900,000 results for that particular subject. I posed a question to myself -where do I start? I need to narrow my search parameters so I chose to look at sites that are Australian and that have links that are localised preferring to keep things a little closer to home.

Main ways of looking: Bing search engine via Windows Internet Explorer

Useful sites including Internet Applications available: 

BeyondBlue: http://www.beyondblue.org.au/index.aspx? Australian BeyondBlue is an interesting site. The main page has a great deal of information on various forms of depression, medical information and user interaction (personal accounts). The site has information links such as the telephone Info Line, Find a doctor or other mental health practitioner hyperlink, it even has Find us on Face Book. It is multi lingual and hosts links to their BeyondBlue television ads. Useful, the focus in on aiding localalised depression sufferers.

ABC.net.au Health and Wellbeing: http://www.abc.net.au/health/library/stories/2007/06/05/1944066.htm Australian site, multi-functional. It has an A to Z hyperlinked library for personal research. Information articles on various forms of depression e.g. Mental Health First Aid, Mood gym and Youth beyondblue. It even has a quiz that you can take to see if you or someone you know suffers from depression. The More Info section at the bottom of the page is extremely useful as it contains links to other depression sites. Useful in that it has a library full of information and practical suggestions.


Black Dog Institute: http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/ "The Black Dog Institute is a not-for-profit, educational, research, clinical and community-oriented facility offering specialist expertise in depression and bipolar disorder." (Blackdoginstitute 2010) Australian. Contains two sites in one, the public site and also on for health professionals. The site is mainly for men but is an interesting research point. It is interactive but not as much as the Beyondblue one. Blackdog has links to information for getting help as well as a research link. It has a very interesting link to a questionnaire concerning temperament and personality http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/surveys/Temperament/index.html
Useful, it is a site that has been set up for mainly men suffering depression but contains relevant information to both male and female readers. Their research is directed as such.


My knowledge change: Having endured depression since my formative teenage years I have had extensive experience with the subject. The majority of information that I have had access to in the past has been via the medical practitioner and research done with books. Looking through the sites that are based in Australia has been very interesting. I have been able to access support group information concerning my particular type of depression, is localised to my area and because I am researching on the Web it has given me a degree of anonymity that walking in to a doctor's office has not.

 Criteria for selecting sites: Australian, location specific, practical and easy to navigate around.