Gollapalli Syama, Bresler Richard, Lynch Noel P, Martin Sean T
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.
University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, TX, USA.
J Patient Exp. 2022 May 22;9:23743735221102675. doi: 10.1177/23743735221102675. eCollection 2022.
To evaluate the readability and quality of online patient information regarding treatment for constipation in the English language. By utilizing the Google © website, the keyword "treatment for chronic constipation" was searched. Each webpage was assessed by 2 authors independently for readability using both the Gunning Fog Index (GFI) and the Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES). The quality of the information produced on each individual website was assessed using the DISCERN instrument. Other parameters that were recorded included the country of origin, the organization type, and whether or not the website was issued a Health on the Net (HoN) certificate. This study identified a mean GFI score of 13.2 and a mean FRES score of 48.9. This result indicates poor overall readability. A mean DISCERN score of 37.9 was produced, indicating an overall weak quality of online information on this topic. This study indicated that parameters such as website organization type and the presence or absence of HoN certification impacted the quality of the information websites on this topic. This study indicated a poor level of quality and readability of online information on the topic of chronic constipation treatment. Further resources should be directed towards improving website readability and quality. Patients may be advised that if they wish to access online information on this topic, websites that display HoN accreditation will likely produce higher quality information.
评估英文在线患者便秘治疗信息的可读性和质量。通过使用谷歌©网站，搜索关键词“慢性便秘治疗”。由两位作者分别使用冈宁雾度指数（GFI）和弗莱什易读性分数（FRES）对每个网页的可读性进行评估。使用DISCERN工具评估每个网站上所提供信息的质量。记录的其他参数包括来源国、组织类型以及该网站是否获得网络健康（HoN）认证。本研究确定平均GFI得分为13.2，平均FRES得分为48.9。这一结果表明总体可读性较差。平均DISCERN得分为37.9，表明该主题在线信息的总体质量较弱。本研究表明，网站组织类型和HoN认证的有无等参数会影响该主题信息网站的质量。本研究表明，慢性便秘治疗主题的在线信息质量和可读性水平较差。应投入更多资源来提高网站的可读性和质量。可以建议患者，如果他们希望获取该主题的在线信息，显示HoN认证的网站可能会提供更高质量的信息。
