Legal, Ethical, and Professional Issues to Consider When Communicating via the Internet: A Suggested Response Model and Policy

Providing nutrition information via the Internet enables dietetics professionals to expand their practices, markets, and networks, but also presents new legal, ethical, and professional issues. Based on her experiences responding to unsolicited questions through a Spanish-language nutrition Web site, this author presents issues related to electronic communication, a process for formulating responses, and makes suggestions for a policy. The issues include the global nature of cyberspace; cultural variations in Spanish-language food terms and models, credentialing, licensure, and scope of practice; presentation of credentials; the inquirer's knowledge and information sources; the nature of the cyberspace relationship; and protection of the client and the professional. These issues have created a need for an electronic communication policy and some components of such a policy are identified, including the nature of electronic nutrition, distinguishing between public and client-specific communication, question-and-answer formats, opening and closing caveats, and recording processes. J Am Diet Assoc. 1999;99:1428–1432.