http://bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/324/7337/573
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Wide Web |
Gunther Eysenbach
Unit for Cybermedicine and eHealth, Department of Clinical Social Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Bergheimer Str 58, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany
Correspondence to: G Eysenbach ey@yi.com
Objectives: To describe techniques for retrieval and appraisal
used by consumers when they search for health information on the
internet.
Design: Qualitative study using focus groups, naturalistic
observation of consumers searching the world wide web in a usability
laboratory, and in-depth interviews.
Participants: A total of 21 users of the internet participated
in three focus group sessions. 17 participants were given a series of
health questions and observed in a usability laboratory setting while
retrieving health information from the web; this was followed by
in-depth interviews.
Setting: Heidelberg, Germany.
Results: Although their search technique was often suboptimal,
internet users successfully found health information to answer
questions in an average of 5 minutes 42 seconds (median 4 minutes
18 seconds) per question. Participants in focus groups said that when
assessing the credibility of a website they primarily looked for the
source, a professional design, a scientific or official touch,
language, and ease of use. However, in the observational study, no
participants checked any "about us" sections of websites,
disclaimers, or disclosure statements. In the post-search interviews,
it emerged that very few participants had noticed and remembered
which websites they had retrieved information from.
Conclusions: Further observational studies are needed to
design and evaluate educational and technological innovations for
guiding consumers to high quality health information on the web.
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What is already known on this topic Qualitative data are needed to design educational and technological innovations to guide consumers to high quality health information What this study adds Consumers say that when assessing the credibility of a site they primarily look for the source, a professional design, and a variety of other criteria In practice, internet users do not check the "about us" sections of websites, try to find out who authors or owners of the site are, or read disclaimers or disclosure statements Very few internet users later remember from which websites they retrieved information or who stood behind the sites |
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