Successes and failures in videoconferencing: a community health education programme

Women's Health Queensland Wide began delivery of community education progra mmes for rural women via videoconferencing in the year 2000, A series of th ree, 90 min videoconference sessions from Brisbane were delivered to 13 sit es in northern Queensland. The sessions related to health issues for women at midlife. The sessions were delivered by health experts in Brisbane, who provided a short presentation on their topic; the majority of the videoconf erence was dedicated to questions from the participants. Each site was supp orted by a technical coordinator, who ensured that the equipment functioned properly, and a local health worker, who facilitated women's participation in the videoconference as well as providing a local services perspective. Women's Health Queensland Wide was responsible for overall planning and pro motion of the sessions. Feedback from these programmes demonstrated women's and health-care professionals' acceptance of videoconferencing as a mechan ism for receiving health information. Sustainability of these programmes de pends upon the following issues: cost, delivery model, and the availability of appropriate technology and women-friendly sites.