All we need to fear is fear itself: Overcoming the Internet resistance of child psychiatrists

The Internet is revolutionizing health care, and yet health care providers, doctors in particular, are lagging behind health care consumers when it co mes to embracing this new technology. Rather than condemn and dismiss this technophobia as childish and short-sighted, we need to understand its multi factorial origin as well as key strategic elements needed to conquer and el iminate it. This article summarizes lessons learned over a decade of using various approaches toward promoting Internet literacy among child psychiatr ists in Toronto, Canada. Building and growing Ability OnLine, an online ema il network for youngsters with disabilities (1990-1995) was infinitely easi er than convincing colleagues to learn about Internet health resources, let alone contribute to a departmental web page. By sharing our successes and failures, we hope to contribute to a FAQ of do's and don'ts for other E-lit eracy champions in Mental Health.