How to evaluate the quality of the online health information?

As information becomes increasingly available online, more and more people are turning to the Internet for answers to their health questions.There are millions of websites containing health-related information. Some of the information on these websites is reliable. Some of it is not. Some of the information is current. And, some is not. Telling the good from the bad can be a challenge.

The first step in assessing the quality of health information found online, is to consider the source. Any website that provides health information should make it easy to learn the identity of the individual, company, or organization responsible for the site and its contents. Information about the  source should be made available in “About Us” or “Contact Us” section of the site or on the website’s homepage. This section should also contain a way to reach the source or sponsor, including an email address, phone number, and/or mailing address.

Many health and medical websites post information collected from outside sources. The original source should be clearly indicated.

Also there should be a review panel or editorial board fact checks information before it is made available online and is listed somewhere on the website. or example,look at the site’s URL (which is usually listed in a box labeled “location” near the top part of your screen).For example, by looking at the URL //www.cdc.gov, you can figure out that you are at a site created by a government agency (gov) whose initials are probably cdc (they are: the Centers for Disease Control).

This can help you determine whether the information is created by a health care provider, a person dealing with a medical condition, or an insurance company,  so you can better judge the content.

If there is no information available about who owns the site or develops the content, then it might be a misinformation.Websites hosting health information should post the date the content was last updated or reviewed.

A tool should be created where all the  correct URL website should be entered and the tool should check the sites, the  quality of information accessibility, usability, and reliability, HTML and metadata for errors. So that that there should not be any misinformation.

The available health information on websites should be reliable and accurate in order to make informed decisions by community. There are six broad criteria for evaluation of health information you find on the web. They are: Credibility, Content, Disclosure, Links, Design and Interactivity.

Health information can be extremely useful, empowering us to make important health decisions. However, health information also can be confusing and overwhelming. Given the wealth of information available through the Internet, journals and other sources, it's important to be able to assess its quality. This can be difficult because health information is constantly changing as a result of new research and because there may be different valid approaches to treating particular conditions.

To establish reliable quality criteria for medical websites is of foremost importance in relation to the increasing number of Internet users, both health professionals and lay people, searching for medical information in the mass of these sites. Quality in general refers to a set of features that distinguish one person or thing from others of the same type. The quality of a website is usually related to its content and usability. The first criteria we considered are contents and readability, which must be targeted to the intended type of user. Other important criteria include: transparency, consistency, honesty, references to sources, accountability, respect of privacy, currency of content material, responsibility, and accessibility. Technical criteria are the use of consolidated and standard technologies, soft colors,  short page download time. Good medical websites should also follow the suggestions of organizations such as the World Health Organization, the Food and Drug Administration, the European Communities. 

Health information websites, however, are recognised to differ widely in quality and reliability of their content. This has led to the development of various codes of conduct or quality rating tools to assess the quality of health websites. However, the validity and reliability of these quality tools and their applicability to different health websites also varies. In principle, rating tools should be available to consumers, require a limited number of elements to be assessed, be assessable in all elements, be readable and be able to gauge the readability and consistency of information provided from a patient's view point. 

Health information can be extremely useful, empowering us to make important health decisions. But health information also can be confusing and overwhelming. Given the information available through the Internet, journals and other sources, it's important to be able to assess its quality. This can be difficult because health information is constantly changing as a result of new research and because there may be different valid approaches to treating particular conditions. Although there is no simple rule to determine the validity of online information, there can be some useful guides that can be used to assess its credibility and accuracy.

• Knowing the credibility of the source:-
Ideally, information in a journal or on the Web should have an identifiable source or an author.
• Taking extra care to examine the credentials of the source to determine whether the author or organization has the required expertise and training to provide the information.

• An important clue to the identity of the publisher can be found in the Web address:
• .edu A Web address that ends in ".edu" is published by an organization that is associated with an educational institution such as a university.
• .gov An ending of ".gov" signifies that the web page belongs to a governmental organization.
• .org An address ending in ".org" belongs to a nonprofit.
• .com An ending of ".com" belongs to a for-profit company.

• when assessing credibility and accuracy, we should consider the following:
• Who published the information?
• Who are the authors?
• What are their credentials?
• Do the authors have a hidden agenda?
• Is the information peer reviewed?
• Is the information based on scientific evidence?
• Is the information supported by facts?
• Is the original source listed?
• Do other sources back up the information?
• Is the information current?

It is important to recognize that the search for information can be confusing, even when you find credible sources of information. In reviewing information, we should use our judgment, recognizing that evaluating quality is something important. Although very few sources will have all the criteria for credibility and accuracy, familiarizing ourself with these criteria can help us sift through information more critically and will provide important cues that will help you differentiate between good quality and poor quality information.

The tremendous advancement of digital technology and widespread usage of Internet have made information accessible worldwide.However, the reliability of information from web sources are questionable due to the unregulated nature of Internet.The extensive spread of unreliable information can negatively affect public health. Misinformation based wrong decision forces people to uphold erroneous belief and opinions instead of irrefutable evidence To establish reliable quality criteria for medical websites is of foremost importance in relation to the increasing number of Internet users, both health professionals and lay people, searching for medical information in the mass of these sites. Quality in general refers to a set of features that distinguish one person or thing from others of the same type. The quality of a website is usually related to its content and usability.To date, there is no clear universal standard to assess the quality of web based health information so propose guidelines should be there to information providers for raising the quality of medical and health information available on the World Wide Web tools can be used The Quality Index for health related Media Reports (QIMR) was developed as an evaluation tool to monitor the quality of health research reporting in the lay media, The Code of Conduct for medical websites (HONcode), initiated by the Health On the Net Foundation, was the first attempt to propose guidelines to information providers for raising the quality of medical and health information available on the World Wide Web, An applied machine learning based approach, a dataset for assessing the quality of online health articles a list of those criteria3 . • Criterion 1 Does the story adequately discuss the costs of the intervention? • Criterion 2 Does the story adequately quantify the benefits of the intervention? • Criterion 3 Does the story adequately explain/quantify the harms of the intervention? • Criterion 4 Does the story seem to grasp the quality of the evidence? • Criterion 5 Does the story commit disease-mongering? • Criterion 6 Does the story use independent sources and identify conflicts of interest? • Criterion 7 Does the story compare the new approach with existing alternatives? • Criterion 8 Does the story establish the availability of the treatment/test/product/procedure? • Criterion 9 Does the story establish the true novelty of the approach? • Criterion 10 Does the story appear to rely solely or largely on a news release? The National Institutes of Health website is a good place to start for reliable health information.As a rule, health websites sponsored by Federal Government agencies are good sources of information. Sometimes, the website address (called a URL) is helpful. For example:

• .gov identifies a U.S. government agency
• .edu identifies an educational institution, like a school, college, or university
• .org usually identifies nonprofit organisations (such as professional groups; scientific, medical, or research societies; advocacy groups)
• .com identifies commercial websites (such as businesses, pharmaceutical companies, and sometimes hospitals)
• Read the website’s privacy policy.If a website says it uses “cookies,” your information may not be private. While cookies may enhance your web experience, they can also compromise your online privacy—so it is important to read how the website will use your information

Health information plays a vital role in increasing the understanding of health problem, helping make informed decisions about treatment choices,and ultimately improving quality of life.information in the internet may become misinformed making decisions based on low quality,inaccurate, incomplete,and biased health information may lead to harmful consequences such as decrease people's quality of life and even risk their life due to delayed treatment. It's important to be able its quality.This can be difficult because health information is constantly changing.

It is important to  recognize that searched information is from the trusted website like WHO

Those trusted websites information may be useful.it is important to note that by whom the information is provided.

Nowadays, consumers engage in health information seeking via the Internet.More than 70,000 websites disseminate health information; in excess of 50 million people seek health information online, with likely consequences for the health care system. The Internet offers widespread access to health information, and the advantages of interactivity, information tailoring and anonymity. Some provide reliable health information. Some do not. Some of the medical news is current. Some of it is not.The growing popularity of the Internet has made finding health information easier and faster. Much of the information on the Internet is valuable; however, the Internet also allows rapid and widespread distribution of false and misleading information. Choosing which websites to trust is an important step in gathering reliable health information. Some ways to know whether the health information you find on the Internet or receive by email is likely to be reliable are:

1. Who runs the website?
2. Who pays for the website?
3. What is the website’s purpose?
4. What is the original source of the website’s information?
5. How does the website document the evidence supporting its information?
6. Who reviewed the information before the owner posted it on the website?
7. How current is the information on the website?
8. How does the website owner choose links to other sites?
9. What information about users does the website collect,and why?
10. How does the website manage interactions with users?
11. How can you verify the accuracy of information you receive via email?

However, access is inequitable and use is hindered further by navigational challenges due to numerous design features (e.g. disorganization, technical language and lack of permanence). It also need to address the Internet as part of the larger health communication system and take advantage of incorporating extant communication concepts. Limited health information and web literacy can cause misunderstandings in evaluating medical data found in the web. An appropriate education plan and evaluation tools could enhance user skills and bring to a more cautious analysis of health information found in the web.

CITATION:

//pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11780707/

//ods.od.nih.gov/HealthInformation/How_To_Evaluate_Health_Information_on_the_Internet_Questions_and_Answers.aspx