Towards m-communities: the case of COSMOS healthcare

In this paper we describe mobile virtual healthcare communities as a solution for meeting cancer patients needs for information and interaction. After a short introduction into the German healthcare system and its potential starting points for virtual communities, we focus on cancer patients. We analyse their situation through field studies and identify information and interaction needs. On this basis we derive requirements for user centric socio-technical system design for cancer patients. Since no existing offers meet these prerequisites and some of the user needs identified hint at an extension of Web-based services towards mobile services, we intend to develop and implement a mobile healthcare community for cancer patients. Only socially accepted, technically stable and economically feasible solutions can ensure sustainable success of mobile virtual healthcare communities.