Introduction The HealthQuest Project in the Sociology Department at Boston College is a three-year investigation of the use of new communication technologies to promote preventive health care education. It is funded by the National Library of Medicine s National Information Infrastructure Program. Boston College was selected as a research site because of its high-speed fiber optic capacity and the superior access to computer facilities it affords its students and staff. The university also provides graduate tuition waivers and internship funding to assist the project. All staff are actively involved in recruiting participants and analyzing results.
Advanced students conduct interviews and focus groups.
Employment is year-round through the summer of 1999. The confidentiality of participants responses is assured by the HQP informed consent contract which follows National Institutes of Health guidelines and has been approved by the Boston College Institutional Review Board. With the exception of volunteers wishing to remain involved with the project, participants are guaranteed that their responses are aggregated and, at the end of the program, destroyed. The target population for this study is first-year students. The target population for this study is women employees 30 and older.