Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Dokuz Eylül University, Inciraltý mahallesi, Izmir 35030, Turkey.
Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation Dokuz Eylül University, Inciraltý mahallesi, Izmir 35030, Turkey.
Natl Med J India. 2024 May-Jun;37(3):124-130. doi: 10.25259/NMJI_327_2022.
Background There are concerns over the reliability and comprehensibility of health-related information on the internet. We analyzed the readability, reliability and quality of online patient education materials obtained from websites associated with chronic low back pain (cLBP). Methods On 26 April 2022, the term 'cLBP' was used to perform a search on Google, and 95 eligible websites were identified. The Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES) and Gunning Fog (GFOG) index were used to evaluate the readability. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) score was used to assess the reliability and the Health on the Net Foundation code of conduct (HONcode) was used to assess quality. Results The mean (SD) FRES was 55.74 (13.57) (very difficult) and the mean (SD) GFOG was 12.76 (2.8) (very difficult) of the websites reviwed. According to the JAMA scores, 28.4% of the websites had a high reliability rating and 33.7% adhered to the HONcode. Websites of different typologies were found to significantly differ in their reliability and the quality scores (p<0.05). Conclusion The reading ability required for cLBP-related information on the internet was found to be considerably higher than that recommended by the National Health Institute and had low reliability and poor quality. We believe that online information should have readability appropriate for most readers and must have reliable content that is appropriate to educate the public, particularly for websites that provide patient education material.
人们对互联网上与健康相关信息的可靠性和可理解性存在担忧。我们分析了从与慢性下背痛(cLBP)相关的网站获取的在线患者教育材料的可读性、可靠性和质量。
在 2022 年 4 月 26 日,使用“cLBP”一词在 Google 上进行搜索,确定了 95 个符合条件的网站。使用 Flesch 阅读容易度得分(FRES)和 Gunning Fog(GFOG)指数评估可读性。使用《美国医学会杂志》(JAMA)评分评估可靠性,使用健康互联网基金会行为准则(HONcode)评估质量。
所审查网站的平均(SD)FRES 为 55.74(13.57)(非常困难),平均(SD)GFOG 为 12.76(2.8)(非常困难)。根据 JAMA 评分,28.4%的网站具有较高的可靠性评级,33.7%的网站符合 HONcode。不同类型的网站在可靠性和质量评分方面存在显著差异(p<0.05)。
互联网上与 cLBP 相关信息的阅读能力要求明显高于美国国立卫生研究院推荐的水平,并且可靠性低,质量差。我们认为,在线信息的可读性应适合大多数读者,并且必须具有可靠的内容,以适当地教育公众,特别是对于提供患者教育材料的网站。