Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital, Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Cologne, Germany.
Turk Neurosurg. 2024;34(4):588-599. doi: 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.42973-22.3.
To obtain health-related information internet usage is rapidly increasing. However, there are concerns about the comprehensibility and reliability of internet-accessed health-related information. The aim of this research was to investigate the reliability, quality, and readability of patient education materials (PEMs) about spinal cord stimulation (SCS) on the internet.
A total of 114 websites suitable for the study were identified after a search on Google for the term "spinal cord stimulation." Gunning Fog (GFOG), Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL), Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES), and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) were used to determine the readability of sites. The credibility of the websites was assessed using the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) score. Quality was assessed using the global quality score (GQS), the DISCERN score, and the Health on the Net Foundation code of conduct (HONcode).
Evaluating the text sections, the mean SMOG and FKGL were 10.92 ± 1.61 and 11.62 ± 2.11 years, respectively, and the mean FRES and GFOG were 45.32 ± 10.71 and 14.62 ± 2.24 (both very difficult), respectively. Of all the websites, 10.5% were found to be of high quality, 13.2% were found to be of high reliability, and only 6.1% had a HONcode. A significant difference was found between the typologies of the websites and the reliability and quality scores (p < 0.05).
The internet-based PEMs about SCS were found to have a readability level that exceeded the Grade 6 level recommended by the National Health Institute. However, the materials demonstrated low reliability and poor quality. It is advisable that websites addressing Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS), a specific neuromodulation technique among various interventional strategies for chronic pain management, maintain readability standards in line with established indexes and provide content that is reliable and tailored to the general public's educational level.
随着人们对健康相关信息的需求不断增加，互联网的使用也在迅速普及。然而，人们对互联网上获取的健康相关信息的可理解性和可靠性存在担忧。本研究旨在调查互联网上有关脊髓刺激（SCS）的患者教育材料（PEM）的可靠性、质量和可读性。
通过在 Google 上搜索“脊髓刺激”一词，共确定了 114 个适合研究的网站。使用 Gunning Fog（GFOG）、Flesch-Kincaid 年级水平（FKGL）、Flesch 阅读舒适度得分（FRES）和简单衡量佶屈聱牙度（SMOG）来确定网站的可读性。使用《美国医学会杂志》（JAMA）评分来评估网站的可信度。使用全球质量评分（GQS）、DISCERN 评分和健康网络基金会行为准则（HONcode）来评估质量。
评估文本部分，平均 SMOG 和 FKGL 分别为 10.92 ± 1.61 和 11.62 ± 2.11 年，平均 FRES 和 GFOG 分别为 45.32 ± 10.71 和 14.62 ± 2.24（均为非常困难）。在所有网站中，有 10.5%被认为是高质量的，13.2%被认为是高可靠性的，只有 6.1%有 HONcode。网站类型与可靠性和质量评分之间存在显著差异（p < 0.05）。
互联网上有关 SCS 的 PEM 阅读水平超过了国家卫生研究院推荐的 6 年级水平。然而，这些材料的可靠性和质量较差。建议针对脊髓刺激（SCS）的网站，作为慢性疼痛管理的各种介入策略之一的特定神经调节技术，保持与既定指标相符的可读性标准，并提供适合普通公众教育水平的可靠内容。
