A cross-sectional study on quality of diabetes information identified from the Internet (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingchun Fan ◽  
Jean Craig ◽  
Na Zhao ◽  
Fujian Song
Keyword(s):  
Health Information ◽  
Search Engine ◽  
Search Engines ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Content Coverage ◽  
Google Search

BACKGROUND Increasingly people seek health information from the Internet, in particular, health information on diseases that require intensive self-management, such as diabetes. However, the Internet is largely unregulated and the quality of online health information may not be credible. OBJECTIVE To assess the quality of online information on diabetes identified from the Internet. METHODS We used the single term “diabetes” or equivalent Chinese characters to search Google and Baidu respectively. The first 50 websites retrieved from each of the two search engines were screened for eligibility using pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Included websites were assessed on four domains: accessibility, content coverage, validity and readability. RESULTS We included 26 websites from Google search engine and 34 from Baidu search engine. There were significant differences in website provider (P<0.0001), but not in targeted population (P=0.832) and publication types (P=0.378), between the two search engines. The website accessibility was not statistically significantly different between the two search engines, although there were significant differences in items regarding website content coverage. There was no statistically significant difference in website validity between the Google and Baidu search engines (mean Discern score 3.3 vs 2.9, p=0.156). The results to appraise readability for English website showed that that Flesch Reading Ease scores ranged from 23.1 to 73.0 and the mean score of Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level ranged range from 5.7 to 19.6. CONCLUSIONS The content coverage of the health information for patients with diabetes in English search engine tended to be more comprehensive than that from Chinese search engine. There was a lack of websites provided by health organisations in China. The quality of online health information for people with diabetes needs to be improved to bridge the knowledge gap between website service and public demand.

scholarly journals Quality of Health Information on the Internet for Urolithiasis on the Google Search Engine

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dwayne T. S. Chang ◽  
Robert Abouassaly ◽  
Nathan Lawrentschuk
Keyword(s):  
Health Information ◽  
Search Engine ◽  
Information Quality ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Quality Information ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Educational Sources ◽  
Google Search

Purpose. To compare the quality of health information on the Internet for keywords related to urolithiasis, to assess for difference in information quality across four main Western languages, and to compare the source of sponsorship in these websites. Methods. Health On the Net (HON) Foundation principles were utilised to determine quality information. Fifteen keywords related to urolithiasis were searched on the Google search engine. The first 150 websites were assessed against the HON principles and the source of sponsorship determined. Results. A total of 8986 websites were analysed. A proportion of HON-accredited websites for individual search terms range between 2.5% and 12.0%. The first 50 websites were more likely to be HON-positive compared to websites 51–100 and 101–150. French websites searched were more likely to be HON-positive whereas German websites were less likely to be HON-positive than English websites. There was no statistically significant difference between the rate of HON-positive English and Spanish websites. The three main website sponsors were from government/educational sources (40.2%), followed by commercial (29.9%) and physician/surgeon sources (18.6%). Conclusions. Health information on most urolithiasis websites was not validated. Nearly one-third of websites in this study have commercial sponsorship. Doctors should recognise the need for more reliable health websites for their patients.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Quality and Readability of Internet Information Sources regarding the Treatment of Swallowing Disorders

2017 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 128-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley P. O'Connell Ferster ◽  
Amanda Hu
Keyword(s):  
Health Information ◽  
Grade Level ◽  
Information Sources ◽  
Swallowing Disorders ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
8Th Grade ◽  
Google Search

The Internet has become a popular resource for patient education. The information it provides, however, is rarely peer-reviewed, and its quality may be a concern. Since the average American reads at an 8th grade level, the American Medical Association and the National Institutes of Health have recommended that health information be written at a 4th to 6th grade level. We performed a study to assess the quality and readability of online information regarding the treatment of swallowing disorders. A Google search for “swallowing treatment” was conducted. We studied the first 50 websites that appeared on the search engines results with the use of the DISCERN quality index tool, the Flesch Ease of Reading Score (FRES), and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) readability test. DISCERN is a validated 16-item questionnaire used to assess the quality of written health information; FRES and FKGL are used to assess readability. We classified the websites as either patient-targeted or professional-targeted sites, as well as either major or minor. The overall DISCERN score was 1.61 ± 0.61 (range: 1 to 5), the overall FRES was 39.1 ± 19.0 (range: 1 to 100), and the overall FKGL was 11.8 ± 3.4 (range: 3 to 12). As would be expected, patient-targeted websites had significantly higher FRES and significantly lower FKGL scores than did the professional-targeted websites (p = 0.01 and p = 0.04, respectively); there was no significant difference between the two in DISCERN scores. The major websites had significantly higher DISCERN scores than did the minor sites (p = 0.002); there were no significant differences in FRES and FKGL scores. We conclude that online information sources regarding the treatment of swallowing disorders were of sub optimal quality in that information was written at a level too difficult for the average American to easily understand. Also, the patient-targeted websites were written at a lower reading level, and the major websites contained a higher quality of information.

scholarly journals Assessment of the Quality of Internet-Based Health Information in the Indonesian Language about Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

2020 ◽  
pp. 222-227
Author(s):  
Andon Hestiantoro ◽  
Danang T. Pamungkas
Keyword(s):  
Health Information ◽  
Search Engine ◽  
Search Engines ◽  
Information Quality ◽  
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Syndrome Analysis ◽  
Ovarian Syndrome

Objectives: To investigate health information quality about PCOS on the internet in Indonesian language.Methods: Top website from two separate search engines (Google and Bing) was collected using the keyword of “sindrom ovarium polikistik” (polycystic ovarian syndrome). Analysis of health information quality on those websites was performed.Results: Sixty-nine websites were included for analysis. The majority of those websites have good information quality in terms of content accuracy and website credibility. There was no difference in quality between the two search engines. The website was found at the top two pages in each search engine to have better quality than the later pages (p=0.02). The educational website had better quality (p=0.05). The website made by healthcare organizations had better quality (p=0.04). The non-commercial website had better information quality (p=0.01).Conclusion: Criteria affecting health information quality on the internet were as follows: found at the top two pages on a search engine; educational website; made by healthcare organization; and non-commercial purpose.Keywords: health information quality, Indonesian language, internet-based, polycystic ovarian syndrome Abstrak Tujuan: Untuk melakukan kajian kualitas informasi kesehatan tentang PCOS di internet dalam Bahasa Indonesia.Metode: Situs web teratas dari dua mesin pencari terpisah (Google dan Bing) dikumpulkan dengan menggunakan kata kunci “sindrom ovarium polikistik”. Analisis kualitas informasi kesehatan pada situs-situs tersebut telah dilakukan.Hasil: Enam puluh sembilan situs web dimasukkan untuk analisis. Mayoritas situs web tersebut memiliki kualitas informasi yang baik dalam hal akurasi konten dan kredibilitas situs web. Tidak ada perbedaan kualitas antara kedua mesin pencari tersebut. Situs web ini ditemukan pada dua halaman teratas di setiap mesin pencari memiliki kualitas yang lebih baik daripada halaman-halaman selanjutnya (p = 0,02). Kualitas situs web berbasis pendidikan menunjukkan hasil lebih baik (p = 0,05). Kualitas website yang dibuat oleh organisasi kesehatan menunjukkan hasil lebih baik (p = 0,04). Situs web non-komersial memiliki kualitas informasi yang lebih baik (p = 0,01).Kesimpulan: Kriteria yang mempengaruhi kualitas informasi kesehatan di internet adalah sebagai berikut: ditemukan pada dua halaman teratas pada mesin pencari; situs web berbasis pendidikan; dibuat oleh organisasi kesehatan; dan tujuan non-komersial.Kata kunci : bahasa indonesia, berbasis internet, kualitas informasi kesehatan, sindrom ovarium polikistik.

Quality Assessment of Health Information about Scaphoid Fracture in Chinese Websites (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaobin Yin ◽  
Jianguang Ji ◽  
Peng Lu ◽  
Wenyao Zhong ◽  
Liying Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Search Engines ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Scaphoid Fracture ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
The Mean

BACKGROUND With online health information becoming increasingly popular among patients and their family members, concerns have been raised about the accuracy from the websites. OBJECTIVE We aimed to evaluate the overall quality of the online information about scaphoid fracture obtained from Chinese websites using the local search engines. METHODS We conducted an online search using the keyword “scaphoid fracture” from the top 5 search engines in China, i.e. Baidu, Shenma, Haosou, Sougou and Bing, and gathered the top ranked websites, which included a total of 120 websites. Among them, 81 websites were kept for further analyses by removing duplicated and unrelated one as well as websites requiring payment. These websites were classified into four categories, including forum/social networks, commercials, academics and physician’s personals. Health information evaluation tool DISCERN and Scaphoid Fracture Specific Content Score (SFSCS) were used to assess the quality of the websites. RESULTS Among the 81 Chinese websites that we studied, commercial websites were the most common one accounting more than half of all websites. The mean DISCERN score of the 81 websites was 25.56 and no website had a score A (ranging from 64 to 80).The mean SFSCS score was 10.04 and no website had a score A (range between 24 and 30). In addition, DISCERN and SFSCS scores from academic and physician’s websites were significantly higher than those from the forum/social networks and commercials. CONCLUSIONS The overall quality of health information obtained from Chinese websites about scaphoid fracture was very low, suggesting that patients and their family members should be aware such deficiency and pay special attentions for the medical information obtained by using the current search engines in China.

A Tool for Quantifying the Quality of Online Health Information on Student Health Center Websites (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anagha Kulkarni ◽  
Mike Wong ◽  
Tejasvi Belsare ◽  
Risha Shah ◽  
Diana Yu Yu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Health Center ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Quality ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Student Health ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Student Health Center

BACKGROUND The Internet has become a major source of health information especially for adolescents and young adults. Unfortunately, inaccurate, incomplete or outdated health information is widespread online. Often adolescents and young adults turn to authoritative websites such as the student health center (SHC) website of the university they are attending to obtain reliable health information. Although most on-campus SHC clinics comply with the American College Health Association (ACHA) standards, their websites are not subject to any standards or code of conduct. In the absence of quality standards or guidelines, the monitoring and compliance processes do not exist for SHC websites either. As such, there is no oversight on the health information published on the SHC websites by any central governing body. OBJECTIVE Our objective is to enable researchers to monitor online information quality at scale. We have created a tool that can efficiently quantify the quality of information posted on SHC websites about a health topic. Specifically, this quantitative tool provides information on quality, such as reading ease, coverage of the topic, and the degree of fact-based objective information. METHODS Our cross-functional team has designed and developed an open-source software, QMOHI: Quantitative Measures of Online Health Information, using the Agile software development methodology. The QMOHI tool finds the SHC website and gathers information on the specific health topic of interest from a prespecified list of university websites. Based on the retrieved text, the tool computes eight different quality metrics. The QMOHI tool is a fully automated tool that is designed to be scalable, generalizable, and robust. RESULTS The first empirical evaluation shows that the QMOHI tool is highly scalable and substantially more efficient than the manual approach of assessing online information quality. The second experimental results demonstrate QMOHI’s ability to work effectively with starkly different health topics (COVID, Cancer, LARC, and Condom) and with narrowly focused topics (hormonal IUD and copper IUD); thereby establishing the generalizability and versatility of the tool. The results from the last experiment demonstrate that QMOHI is not vulnerable to typical structural changes that SHC websites may undergo (e.g. URL changes) over a long period of time. QMOHI is able to support longitudinal studies by being robust to such website changes. CONCLUSIONS QMOHI allows public health researchers and practitioners to conduct large-scale studies of SHC websites that were previously too time intensive. The capability to generalize broadly or focus narrowly allows for wide applications of QMOHI, equipping researchers to study both mainstream and underexplored health topics. QMOHI’s ability to robustly analyze SHC websites periodically facilitates longitudinal investigations and monitor SHC progress. QMOHI serves as a launching pad for our future work that aims to develop a broadly applicable public health tool for online health information studies with potential applications far beyond SHC websites.

scholarly journals Protocol paper for the ‘Harnessing resources from the internet to maximise outcomes from GP consultations (HaRI)’ study: a mixed qualitative methods study

BMJ Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. e024188
Author(s):  
Maureen Seguin ◽  
Laura Hall ◽  
Helen Atherton ◽  
Rebecca Barnes ◽  
Geraldine Leydon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Information ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Patient Questionnaires ◽  
Ethical Approval ◽  
Use Of The Internet ◽  
Questionnaire Studies

IntroductionMany patients now turn to the internet as a resource for healthcare information and advice. However, patients’ use of the internet to manage their health has been positioned as a potential source of strain on the doctor–patient relationship in primary care. The current evidence about what happens when internet-derived health information is introduced during consultations has relied on qualitative data derived from interview or questionnaire studies. The ‘Harnessing resources from the internet to maximise outcomes from GP consultations (HaRI)’ study combines questionnaire, interview and video-recorded consultation data to address this issue more fully.Methods and analysisThree data collection methods are employed: preconsultation patient questionnaires, video-recorded consultations between general practitioners (GP) and patients, and semistructured interviews with GPs and patients. We seek to recruit 10 GPs practising in Southeast England. We aim to collect up to 30 patient questionnaires and video-recorded consultations per GP, yielding up to 300. Up to 30 patients (approximately three per participating GP) will be selected for interviews sampled for a wide range of sociodemographic characteristics, and a variety of ways the use of, or information from, the internet was present or absent during their consultation. We will interview all 10 participating GPs about their views of online health information, reflecting on their own usage of online information during consultations and their patients’ references to online health information. Descriptive, conversation and thematic analysis will be used respectively for the patient questionnaires, video-recorded consultations and interviews.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval has been granted by the London–Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee. Alongside journal publications, dissemination activities include the creation of a toolkit to be shared with patients and doctors, to guide discussions of material from the internet in consultations.

scholarly journals Does the packaging of health information affect the assessment of its reliability? A randomized controlled trial protocol

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Leela Raj ◽  
Denise Smith ◽  
James Heilman
Keyword(s):  
Health Information ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
Plain Language ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
University Campuses ◽  
University Of Oxford ◽  
Written Information ◽  
Significant Difference

Background Wikipedia is frequently used as a source of health information. However, the quality of its content varies widely across articles. The DISCERN tool is a brief questionnaire developed in 1996 by the Division of Public Health and Primary Health Care of the Institute of Health Sciences of the University of Oxford. They claim it provides users with a valid and reliable way of assessing the quality of written information. However, the DISCERN instrument’s reliability in measuring the quality of online health information, particularly whether or not its scores are affected by reader biases about specific publication sources, has not yet been explored. Methods This study is a double-blind randomized assessment of a Wikipedia article versus a BMJ literature review using a modified version of the DISCERN tool. Participants will include physicians and medical residents from four university campuses in Ontario and British Columbia and will be randomized into one of four study arms. Inferential statistics tests (paired t-test, multi-level ordinal regression, and one-way ANOVA) will be conducted with the data collected from the study. Outcomes The primary outcome of this study will be to determine whether a statistically significant difference in DISCERN scores exists, which could suggest whether or not how health information is packaged influences how it is assessed for quality. Plain Language Summary The internet, and in particular Wikipedia, is an important way for professionals, students and the public to obtain health information. For this reason, the DISCERN tool was developed in 1996 to help users assess the quality of the health information they find. The ability of DISCERN to measure the quality of online health information has been supported with research, but the role of bias has not necessarily been accounted for. Does how the information is packaged influence how the information itself is evaluated? This study will compare the scores assigned to articles in their original format to the same articles in a modified format in order to determine whether the DISCERN tool is able to overcome bias. A significant difference in ratings between original and inverted articles will suggest that the DISCERN tool lacks the ability to overcome bias related to how health information is packaged.

DOZ047.115: Quality and readability of esophageal atresia information on the Internet

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
B R O’Connor ◽  
E Doherty ◽  
F Friedmacher ◽  
L Vernon ◽  
T S Paran
Keyword(s):  
Esophageal Atresia ◽  
Oesophageal Atresia ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Search Term ◽  
Flesch Reading Ease ◽  
Ease Score ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Google Search

Abstract Introduction Increasingly in pediatric surgical practice, patients, their parents, and surgeons alike use the Internet as an easily and quickly accessible source of information about conditions and their treatment. The quality and reliability of this information may often be unregulated. We aim to objectively assess the online information available relating to esophageal atresia and its management. Methods We performed searches for ‘oesophageal atresia’ and ‘esophageal atresia’ using the Google, Yahoo, and Bing engines to encompass both European and American spellings. We assessed the first 20 results of each search and excluded duplicates or unrelated pages. The DISCERN score and the Health on the Net Foundation Code (HONcode) toolbar were utilized to assess the quality of information on each website. We evaluated readability with the Flesch reading ease (FRE) and the Flesch–Kincaid grade (FKG). Results Of the original 120 hits, 61 were excluded (51 duplicates, 10 unrelated). Out of 59 individual sites reviewed, only 13 sites were HONcode approved. The mean overall DISCERN score was 52.55 (range: 22–78). The mean DISCERN score for the search term ‘oesphageal atresia’ was 57 (range: 22–78) in comparison to 59.03 for ‘esophageal atresia’ (range: 27–78). Google search had the lowest overall mean DISCERN score at 54.83 (range: 35–78), followed by Yahoo at 58.03 (range: 22–78), and Bing with the highest overall mean score of 61.2 (range: 27–78). The majority of websites were graded excellent (≥63) or good (51–62), 43% and 27%, respectively; 20% were scored as fair (39–50), with 10% being either poor (27–38) or very poor (≤26). In terms of readability, the overall Flesch Reading Ease score was 33.02, and the overall Flesch–Kincaid grade level was 10.3. Conclusions The quality of freely available online information relating to esophageal atresia is generally good but may not be accessible to everyone due to being relatively difficult to read. We should direct parents towards comprehensive, high-quality, and easily readable information sources should they wish to supplement their knowledge about esophageal atresia and its management.

Web-Based Information for Patients and Providers

2020 ◽  
pp. 19-33
Author(s):  
Izabella Lejbkowicz
Keyword(s):  
Health Information ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Health Information ◽  
World Population ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
The Impact

The exponential development of Information Technologies revolutionized healthcare. A significant aspect of this revolution is the access to health information in the Internet. The Internet World Stats estimates that 56.8% of the world population used the Internet in March 2019, an increase of 1,066% from 2000. According to The Pew Research Center survey of 2012 81% of Americans used the internet and 72% of them searched for health information. Even though there is a lack in more recent data on the percentage of online health information seekers, it is clear that this trend is on the rise. This chapter focuses on the characteristics of the search for online health information by patients and providers, investigates features related to the quality of health web sites, and discusses the impact of these searches on healthcare.

scholarly journals The Social Model of Translation and Its Application to Internet Search Engines Specialized in Health: The ASEM Search Engine for Neuromuscular Diseases

2010 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 374-386
Author(s):  
Joan Miquel-Vergés ◽  
Elena Sánchez-Trigo
Keyword(s):  
Health Information ◽  
Search Engine ◽  
Search Engines ◽  
Neuromuscular Diseases ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Internet Search ◽  
Quality Health ◽  
Use Of The Internet ◽  
Specialized Texts

The use of the Internet as a source of health information is greatly increasing. However, identifying relevant and valid information can be problematic. This paper firstly analyses the efficiency of Internet search engines specialized in health in order to then determine the quality of the online information related to a specific medical subdomain like that of neuromuscular diseases. Our aim is to present a model for the development and use of a bilingual electronic corpus (MYOCOR), related to the said neuromuscular diseases in order to: a) on one hand, provide a quality health information tool for health professionals, patients and relatives, as well as for translators and writers of specialized texts, and software developers, and b) on the other hand, use the same as a base for the implementation of a search engine (using keywords and semantics), like the ASEM (Federación Española Contra las Enfermedades Neuromusculares) search engine for neuromuscular diseases.

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