Darien Kaja, Lee Susan, Knowles Kayla, Wood Sarah, Langer Miriam D, Lazar Nellie, Dowshen Nadia
PolicyLab, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Roberts Center for Pediatric Research, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
Craig-Dalsimer Division of Adolescent Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
JMIR Pediatr Parent. 2023 Jul 18;6:e41806. doi: 10.2196/41806.
Adolescents and young adults are disproportionately affected by HIV, suggesting that HIV prevention methods such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) should focus on this group as a priority. As digital natives, youth likely turn to internet resources regarding health topics they may not feel comfortable discussing with their medical providers. To optimize informed decision-making by adolescents and young adults most impacted by HIV, the information from internet searches should be educational, accurate, and readable.
The aims of this study were to compare the accuracy of web-based PrEP information found using web search engines and virtual assistants, and to assess the readability of the resulting information.
Adolescent HIV prevention clinical experts developed a list of 23 prevention-related questions that were posed to search engines (Ask.com, Bing, Google, and Yahoo) and virtual assistants (Amazon Alexa, Microsoft Cortana, Google Assistant, and Apple Siri). The first three results from search engines and virtual assistant web references, as well as virtual assistant verbal responses, were recorded and coded using a six-tier scale to assess the quality of information produced. The results were also entered in a web-based tool determining readability using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level scale.
Google web search engine and Google Assistant more frequently produced PrEP information of higher quality than the other search engines and virtual assistants with scores ranging from 3.4 to 3.7 and 2.8 to 3.3, respectively. Additionally, the resulting information generally was presented in language at a seventh and 10th grade reading level according to the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level scale.
Adolescents and young adults are large consumers of technology and may experience discomfort discussing their sexual health with providers. It is important that efforts are made to ensure the information they receive about HIV prevention methods, and PrEP in particular, is comprehensive, comprehensible, and widely available.
青少年和青年受艾滋病病毒（HIV）影响的比例过高，这表明暴露前预防（PrEP）等HIV预防方法应优先关注这一群体。作为数字原生代，年轻人可能会在网上搜索他们觉得与医疗服务提供者讨论起来不太自在的健康话题。为了优化受HIV影响最大的青少年和青年的明智决策，来自网络搜索的信息应该具有教育性、准确性和可读性。
本研究的目的是比较使用网络搜索引擎和虚拟助手找到的基于网络的PrEP信息的准确性，并评估所得信息的可读性。
青少年HIV预防临床专家列出了23个与预防相关的问题，向搜索引擎（Ask.com、必应、谷歌和雅虎）和虚拟助手（亚马逊Alexa、微软小娜、谷歌助手和苹果Siri）提问。记录搜索引擎和虚拟助手网络参考的前三个结果以及虚拟助手的语音回复，并使用六级量表进行编码，以评估所产生信息的质量。结果还输入到一个基于网络的工具中，使用弗莱什-金凯德年级水平量表确定可读性。
谷歌网络搜索引擎和谷歌助手比其他搜索引擎和虚拟助手更频繁地产生高质量的PrEP信息，得分分别为3.4至3.7和2.8至3.3。此外，根据弗莱什-金凯德年级水平量表，所得信息的语言通常呈现为七年级和十年级的阅读水平。
青少年和青年是技术的大量使用者，可能在与医疗服务提供者讨论他们的性健康时感到不适。重要的是要努力确保他们获得的关于HIV预防方法，特别是PrEP的信息是全面、易懂且广泛可用的。
