Department of Communication, Pittsburgh State University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 73019, USA.
J Health Commun. 2011 Feb;16(2):163-77. doi: 10.1080/10810730.2010.535105.
This exploratory study analyzed the content of medical tourism Web sites in an attempt to examine how they convey information about benefits and risks of medical procedures, how they frame credibility, and the degree to which these Web sites include interactive features for consumers. Drawing upon framing theory, the researchers content analyzed a sample of 66 medical tourism Web sites throughout the world. The results indicated that medical tourism Web sites largely promote the benefits of medical procedures while downplaying the risks, and relatively little information regarding the credibility of these services appears. In addition, the presentation of benefits/risks, credibility, and Web site interactivity were found to differ by region and type of facility. The authors discuss the implications of these findings concerning the framing of medical tourism Web site content, future directions for research, and limitations.
本探索性研究分析了医疗旅游网站的内容，试图考察它们如何传达医疗程序的益处和风险信息，如何构建可信度，以及这些网站包含多少供消费者互动的功能。研究人员借鉴了框架理论，对来自世界各地的 66 个医疗旅游网站进行了内容分析。结果表明，医疗旅游网站主要宣传医疗程序的益处，而淡化风险，关于这些服务可信度的信息相对较少。此外，还发现益处/风险、可信度和网站互动性的呈现因地区和设施类型而异。作者讨论了这些发现对医疗旅游网站内容框架、未来研究方向和局限性的影响。
