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The Internet is vast with resources of varying worth. This page was
created to suggest criteria to consider when consulting Internet resources
about health topics. Evaluation criteria can be divided into two main
areas: Content and Design.
Content
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Accuracy (Validity)
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Is the information valid and supported by evidence? Are omissions
noted? Is the author's point of view objective and unbiased?
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Authority
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Who is responsible for the information? What are the author's
creditials? Is a mechanism in place for you to contact the author?
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Currency
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When was the site created? Was it updated recently?
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Disclaimer
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Does it state that the content is not medical advice?
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Intended Audience
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Is this source too elementary, too technical, too advanced, or just right?
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Links
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Are there links that point to additional, valuable resources with minimum effort?
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Purpose of the site
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Is the purpose of the site clearly stated? Does the site match its
purpose? Is the site intended to educate or sell? |
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Uniqueness
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Does the site offer unique information?
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Design
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Ease of use
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Is the site designed to make it easy to navigate? Are menus arranged
logically? Do function buttons stand out?
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Attractiveness
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Are colors and graphics used to make the site functional and attractive?
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References
- Ambre J, et al. Working draft white paper: criteria for assessing
the quality of health information on the Internet. [October 14, 1997 edit
date].
http://hitiweb.mitretek.org/docs/criteria.html
- Lyman Maynard Stowe Library, University of Connecticut Health Center.
Evaluating web sites for consumer health information.
http://library.uchc.edu/departm/hnet/evalgu.html
- Murray, S. Separating the wheat from the chaff: evaluating consumer
health information on the Internet. Bibliotheca Medica Canadiana.
Summer 1998; 19(4):142-145.
Additional Links
Health on the Net (HON) Code of
Conduct for Medical and Health Web Sites
Health on the Net (HON) is a not-for-profit medical information portal
linking to trustworthy sites on the Internet. The portal offers two
medical search tools, MedHunt and HONselect as well as the HON Code of
Conduct (HONcode) that delineates qualifications sites must manifest in
order to be considered authoritative, trustworthy Web-based medical
information.
Evaluation of Information Sources.
Evaluation of Health Information Sources is part of the Information
Quality World Wide Web Virtual Library. The page provides pointers to criteria for evaluating
information resources, particularly those on the Internet.
Google Topic: Health
Google Health Topic provides a means to search across health
websites that have been labeled by reputable contributors. Health
websites have been annotated with labels. Labels may be used to further
refined to further refine a search.
MedlinePlus
Evaluating Health Resources Gateway
MedlinePlus, itself a provider of trustworthy health information, also
provides a page dedicated to evaluating health information. In addition
to this gateway, Medline Plus also provides
Evaluating Health Information: A Tutorial
(requires Flash player).
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