Aim 1. Develop a health channel for the kiosk that focuses on diet and nutrition.

Aim 2. Include the channel in all of the kiosks through the state of Michigan.

Residents throughout the State of Michigan.

Developed as part of the Michigan Interactive Health Kiosk Demonstration Project, this health channel includes:

• An overview of the benefits of a healthy diet.
• Information on serving sizes, preparation styles, and recommendations for the relative proportions of food groups to consume.

Focus groups, intercept interviews, and usability testing were completed for all of the channels before final dissemination into the kiosks. Feedback was reviewed and improvements, clarifications, and updates were implemented into each channel as appropriate.

After dissemination, findings for all channels provided in the kiosk include:

• Pilot assessments of all kiosk users showed that over 400,000 individuals use the kiosks each year.
• When comparing users with the population exposed to the kiosks, we find that kiosk users tend to be younger (over 50% of users are under 21 years of age). Users do not, however, differ from nonusers by ethnic or gender status.
• Because of the ethnic compositions where the kiosks are placed, over 50% of kiosk users are nonwhite. Satisfaction levels with the kiosks do not differ by ethnic status or by gender.
• Kiosk users report that the information provided is useful and easy to understand.
• Users rate information from the kiosk as equally as or more trustworthy than information received from physicians or television news shows.
• The vast majority of users enjoyed using the HOV modules and thought they were easy to use.

The Michigan Interactive Health Kiosk Project is one example of how interactive multimedia technology can be made available to a broader spectrum of the public.

The data suggests that interactive multimedia would be used by the public most in need of preventive services - those who do not have ready access to computers.