Website Quality Indicators for Consumers
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Altmetric Citations
Griffiths, Kathleen; Christensen, Helen
Description
Background: The rating tool DISCERN was designed for use by consumers without content expertise to evaluate the quality of health information. There is some evidence that DISCERN may be a valid indicator of evidence-based website quality when applied by health professionals. However, it is not known if the tool is a valid measure of evidence-based quality when used by consumers. Since it is a lengthy instrument requiring training in its use, DISCERN may prove impractical for use by the typical...[Show more]
dc.contributor.author | Griffiths, Kathleen | |
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dc.contributor.author | Christensen, Helen | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2015-12-13T22:52:03Z | |
dc.date.available | 2015-12-13T22:52:03Z | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1438-8871 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1885/81378 | |
dc.description.abstract | Background: The rating tool DISCERN was designed for use by consumers without content expertise to evaluate the quality of health information. There is some evidence that DISCERN may be a valid indicator of evidence-based website quality when applied by health professionals. However, it is not known if the tool is a valid measure of evidence-based quality when used by consumers. Since it is a lengthy instrument requiring training in its use, DISCERN may prove impractical for use by the typical consumer. It is therefore important to explore the validity of other simpler potential indicators of site quality such as Google PageRank.Objective: This study aimed to determine (1) whether the instrument DISCERN is a valid indicator of evidence-based Web content quality for consumers without specific mental health training, and (2) whether Google PageRank is an indicator of website content quality as measured by an evidence-based gold standard.Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey of depression websites using consumer and health professional raters. The main outcome measures were (1) site characteristics, (2) evidence-based quality of content as measured by evidence-based depression guidelines, (3) DISCERN scores, (4) Google PageRank, and (5) user satisfaction.Results: There was a significant association between evidence-based quality ratings and average DISCERN ratings both for consumers (r = 0.62, P = .001) and health professionals (r = 0.80, P < .001). Consumer and health professional DISCERN ratings were significantly correlated (r = 0.77, P < .001). The evidence-based quality score correlated with Google PageRank (r = 0.59, P = .002). However, the correlation between DISCERN scores and user satisfaction was higher than the correlation between Google PageRank and user satisfaction.Conclusions: DISCERN has potential as an indicator of content quality when used either by experts or by consumers. Google PageRank shows some promise as an automatic indicator of quality. | |
dc.publisher | Journal of medical Internet Research | |
dc.source | Journal of Medical Internet Research | |
dc.subject | Keywords: article; correlation analysis; evidence based practice; health care personnel; human; Internet; medical information system; quality control; satisfaction; validation process Consumer participation; Depressive disorder; Evaluation studies; Medical informatics | |
dc.title | Website Quality Indicators for Consumers | |
dc.type | Journal article | |
local.description.notes | Imported from ARIES | |
local.description.refereed | Yes | |
local.identifier.citationvolume | 7 | |
dc.date.issued | 2005 | |
local.identifier.absfor | 111714 - Mental Health | |
local.identifier.ariespublication | MigratedxPub9680 | |
local.type.status | Published Version | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Griffiths, Kathleen, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, ANU | |
local.contributor.affiliation | Christensen, Helen, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, ANU | |
local.bibliographicCitation.issue | 5 | |
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage | 1.11 | |
local.identifier.doi | 10.2196/jmir.7.5.e55 | |
dc.date.updated | 2015-12-11T10:48:50Z | |
local.identifier.scopusID | 2-s2.0-29144523121 | |
Collections | ANU Research Publications |
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