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There are 10-20,000 health-related sites available on the Internet, and it has been estimated that over 21 million people have been influenced by the health information provided therein (Pew, 2000). In an empirical study of over 2,500 people who had sought advice online, more people reported seeking health information online than any other source, and most began their search via a general information portal (Briggs et al, 2002). Such general searches are problematic, as they access information indiscriminately and the quality of information and advice available online can vary enormously. Less than half of the health and medical information available online has been reviewed by doctors (Pew, 2000), and few sites provide sufficient information to support patient decision-making with many being heavily jargon-laden and difficult to read (eg Smart and Burling, 2001). Given this problem in quality, how do consumers make decisions about what e-health information and advice to trust?

The assumptions we made at the outset - and that have been supported by our investigations - are that perceptions of social-identity, trust and risk (outlined above) differentially influence, and are in turn influenced by, three different stages of information and advice-seeking: (1) a heuristic stage of rapid sifting through various sites (2) a more systematic evaluation of the content of relatively few sites and (3) a process of integration of information across sites and sources, coupled with a longer-term consultation and self-disclosure process.

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