Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, P.O. Box 271, Kynsey Road, Colombo 8, Western Province, Sri Lanka.
J Cancer Educ. 2022 Jun;37(3):586-592. doi: 10.1007/s13187-020-01849-4.
This study was aimed to analyze the readability and quality of patient education websites on esophageal cancer. Yahoo!, Google, and Bing search engines were searched using keywords esophageal cancer, esophageal tumor, esophageal tumor, esophageal malignancy, esophageal cancer, esophageal tumor, esophageal tumor, and esophageal malignancy. The first 50 websites resulting in each keyword search were evaluated using validated FRES, LIDA, and DISCERN scores to assess readability, usability, and reliability, and quality of information, respectively. Non-parametric tests were used for statistical analysis. A total of 108 eligible websites were included in the analysis. Thirty (27.8%) out of the 108 eligible web sites had obtained Health on the Net (HON) code certification. The median FRES score of the included websites was 48.25 out of 100 (range: 15.6-70.1). The median LIDA usability and reliability scores were 46.5 out of 54 (range: 22-54) and 39.0 out of 51 (range: 10-51), respectively. The median DISCERN score was 50.5 out of 80 (range: 23-79). A low DISCERN score (≤ 50%) was found in 50% (n = 54) of the websites. The DISCERN score was found to be significantly associated with LIDA usability, reliability, LIDA overall scores (p < 0.001), and HON code certification (p = 0.01). The quality of the websites providing patient-centered information on the Internet ranged between moderate and low with regards to readability, usability, and reliability scores. Better informed decisions on treatment may be facilitated with the access to good quality information online. Therefore, strategies need to be implemented to regulate and standardize websites to provide good quality, accurate information.
这项研究旨在分析食管癌患者教育网站的可读性和质量。使用关键词“食管癌”、“食管肿瘤”、“食管恶性肿瘤”、“食管癌”、“食管肿瘤”、“食管肿瘤”和“食管恶性肿瘤”，在 Yahoo!、Google 和 Bing 搜索引擎上进行搜索。对每个关键词搜索结果的前 50 个网站进行评估，使用经过验证的 FRES、LIDA 和 DISCERN 评分分别评估可读性、可用性和可靠性以及信息质量。采用非参数检验进行统计学分析。共有 108 个合格网站纳入分析。在 108 个合格网站中，有 30 个（27.8%）获得了健康网络（HON）代码认证。纳入网站的 FRES 评分中位数为 48.25 分（满分 100 分，范围：15.6-70.1）。LIDA 可用性和可靠性评分的中位数分别为 54 分（满分 54 分，范围：22-54）和 51 分（满分 51 分，范围：10-51）。DISCERN 评分中位数为 80 分（满分 80 分，范围：23-79）。50%（n=54）的网站 DISCERN 评分低于 50%（≤50%）。DISCERN 评分与 LIDA 可用性、可靠性、LIDA 总分（p<0.001）和 HON 代码认证（p=0.01）显著相关。互联网上提供以患者为中心的信息的网站的可读性、可用性和可靠性评分表明，其质量介于中等和低等之间。通过在线获取高质量信息，可能有助于做出更好的治疗决策。因此，需要实施策略来规范和标准化网站，以提供高质量、准确的信息。
