Assessing the quality, readability and reliability of online information on COVID-19
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v9i12.10680Keywords:
Access to Information; Coronavirus Infections; Social networking.Abstract
During a public health crisis, the dissemination of reliable information, advice and experts’ opinions is essential for improving public comprehension of potential or actual health threats and enables the public to take informed decisions about risk mitigation measures. This study aimed to assess the quality, reliability and readability of internet-based information on COVID-19 available on Brazil’ most used search engines. A total of 68 websites were selected through Google, Bing, and Yahoo. The websites content quality and reliability were evaluated using the DISCERN questionnaire, the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) criteria, and the presence of the Health on Net (HON) certification. Readability was assessed by the Flesch Reading Ease adapted to Brazilian Portuguese (FRE-BP). The web contents were considered moderate to low quality according to DISCERN and JAMA mean scores. Most of the sample presented very difficult reading levels and only 7.4% displayed HON certification. Websites of Governmental and health-related authorship nature showed lower JAMA mean scores and quality and readability measures did not correlate to the webpages content type. COVID-19 related contents available online were considered of low to moderate quality and not accessible to general population. These findings indicate the need for further efforts on improving the quality of health-related content on internet, especially during public health emergencies.
References
Abd-Alrazaq, A., Alhuwail, D., Househ, M., Hamdi, M., & Shah, Z. (2020). Top Concerns of Tweeters During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Infoveillance Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(4), e19016.
Afshin, A., Babalola, D., Mclean, M., Yu, Z., Ma, W., Chen, C. Y., Arabi, M., & Mozaffarian, D. (2016). Information Technology and Lifestyle: A Systematic Evaluation of Internet and Mobile Interventions for Improving Diet, Physical Activity, Obesity, Tobacco, and Alcohol Use. Journal of the American Heart Association, 5(9).
Aguirre, P. E. A., Coelho, M. M., Rios, D., Machado, M. A. A. M., Cruvinel, A. F. P., & Cruvinel, T. (2017). Evaluating the Dental Caries-Related Information on Brazilian Websites: Qualitative Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19(12).
Batista, M. J., Lawrence, H. P., & Sousa Mda, L. (2018). Oral health literacy and oral health outcomes in an adult population in Brazil. BMC Public Health, 18.
Berland, G. K., Elliott, M. N., Morales, L. S., Algazy, J. I., Kravitz, R. L., Broder, M. S., Kanouse, D. E., Muñoz, J. A., Puyol, J. A., Lara, M, Watkins, K. E., Yang, H., & McGlynn, E. A. (2001). Health information on the Internet: accessibility, quality, and readability in English and Spanish. Jama, 285(20), 2612-2621.
Carrieri, V., Madio, L., & Principe, F. (2019). Vaccine hesitancy and (fake) news: Quasi-experimental evidence from Italy. Health Economics Letter, 28(11), 1377-1382.
Cervellin G., Comelli I., & Lippi G. (2017). Is Google Trends a Reliable Tool for Digital Epidemiology? Insights From Different Clinical Settings. Journal of epidemiology and global health,7:185-189.
Cuan-Baltazar, J. Y., Munoz-Perez, M. J., Robledo-Vega, C., Perez-Zepeda, M. F., & Soto-Vega, E. (2020). Misinformation of COVID-19 on the Internet: Infodemiology Study. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, 6(2), e18444.
Discern. DISCERN TOOL (n. d.). http://www.discern.org.uk/.
Effenberger, M., Kronbichler, A., Shin, J. I., Mayer, G., Tilg, H., & Perco, P. (2020). Association of the COVID-19 pandemic with Internet Search Volumes: A Google Trends(TM) Analysis. Int Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Eysenbach, G., Powell, J., Kuss, O., & Sa, E. R. (2002). Empirical studies assessing the quality of health information for consumers on the world wide web: a systematic review. Jama, 287(20), 2691-2700.
Eysenbach, G. (2009) Infodemiology and Infoveillance: Framework for an Emerging Set of Public Health Informatics Methods to Analyze Search, Communication and Publication Behavior on the Internet. Journal of medical Internet research 11:e11.
Farooq, A., Laato, S., & Islam, A. K. M. N. (2020). Impact of Online Information on Self-Isolation Intention During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Study. Journal of medical Internet research, 22(5).
Febres-Cordero, B., Brouwer, K. C., Rocha-Jimenez, T., Fernandez-Casanueva, C., Morales-Miranda, S., & Goldenberg, S. M. (2018). Influence of peer support on HIV/STI prevention and safety amongst international migrant sex workers: A qualitative study at the Mexico-Guatemala border. PLoS One, 13(1), e0190787.
Gao, J., Zheng, P., Jia, Y., Chen, H., Mao, Y., Chen, S., Wang, W., Fu, H., & Dai, J. (2020). Mental health problems and social media exposure during COVID-19 outbreak. PLoS One, 15(4), e0231924.
Hon, T. Health on the Net (HON) (n. d.). https://www.hon.ch/en/
Hua, J., & Shaw, R. (2020). Corona Virus (COVID-19) "Infodemic" and Emerging Issues through a Data Lens: The Case of China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(7).
Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Assuring the Health of the Public in the 21st Century. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century (2002). Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK221239/
Jo, J. H., Kim, E. J., Kim, J. R., Kim, M. J., Chung, J. W., & Park, J. W. (2018). Quality and readability of internet-based information on halitosis. Oral Surgery Oral Medicine Oral Pathology and Oral Radiology, 125(3), 215-222.
Kouzy, R., Abi Jaoude, J., Kraitem, A., El Alam, M. B., Karam, B., Adib, E., Zarka, J., Traboulsi, C., Akl, E. W., & Baddour, K. (2020). Coronavirus Goes Viral: Quantifying the COVID-19 Misinformation Epidemic on Twitter. Cureus, 12(3), e7255.
Laugesen, J., Wu, H., Lu, X., & Zhang, R. (2019). Impact of Physician-Patient Communication in Online Health Communities on Patient Compliance: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(5).
Lee, H., Chalmers, N. I., Brow, A., Boynes, S., Monopoli, M., Doherty, M., Croom, O., & Engineer, L. (2018). Person-centered care model in dentistry. BMC Oral Health, 18(1), 198.
Lopez-Jornet, P., & Camacho-Alonso, F. (2009). The quality of internet sites providing information relating to oral cancer. Oral Oncology, 45(9), e95-98.
Lopez-Jornet, P., & Camacho-Alonso, F. (2010). The quality of internet information relating to oral leukoplakia. Medicina Oral, Patologia Oral y Cirugia Bucal, 15(5), e727-731.
Lu, X., Zhang, R., Wu, W., Shang, X., & Liu, M. (2018). Relationship Between Internet Health Information and Patient Compliance Based on Trust: Empirical Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 20(8), e253.
Miguens-Vila, R., Ledesma-Ludi, Y., Rodriguez-Lozano, F., Varela-Centelles, P., Seoane-Romero, J. M., & Castelo-Baz, P. (2018). Disparities between English and Spanish in readability of online endodontic information for laypeople. The Journal of The American Dental Association, 149(11), 960-966.
Panuganti, B. A., Jafari, A., MacDonald, B., & DeConde, A. S. (2020). Predicting COVID-19 Incidence Using Anosmia and Other COVID-19 Symptomatology: Preliminary Analysis Using Google and Twitter. Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery: official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 163(3), 491–497.
Passos, K. K. M. P., Leonel, A. C. L. S., Bonan, P. R. F., Castro, J. F. L., Pontual, M. L. A., Ramos-Perez, F. M. M., & Perez, D. E. C. (2020) Quality of information about oral cancer in Brazilian Portuguese available on Google, Youtube, and Instagram. Medicina Oral, Patologia Oral y Cirugia Bucal, 25:e346-e352.
Pereira, A.S. et al. (2018). Metodologia da pesquisa científica. [eBook]. Santa Maria. Ed. UAB/NTE/UFSM. Available at: https://repositorio.ufsm.br/bitstream/handle/1/15824/Lic_Computacao_Metodologia-Pesquisa-Cientifica.pdf?sequence=1.
Petersen, C. L., Weeks, W. B., Norin, O., & Weinstein, J. N. (2019). Development and Implementation of a Person-Centered, Technology-Enhanced Care Model For Managing Chronic Conditions: Cohort Study. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 7(3), e11082.
Priyanka, P., Hadi, Y. B., & Reynolds, G. J. (2018). Analysis of the Patient Information Quality and Readability on Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) on the Internet. Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2018, 2849390.
Pulido, C. M., Ruiz-Eugenio, L., Redondo-Sama, G., & Villarejo-Carballido, B. (2020). A New Application of Social Impact in Social Media for Overcoming Fake News in Health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(7).
Readable.io. Readibility Score (n. d.). https://readable.io/
Silberg, W. M., Lundberg, G. D., & Musacchio, R. A. (1997). Assessing, controlling, and assuring the quality of medical information on the Internet: Caveant lector et viewor--Let the reader and viewer beware. Jama, 277(15), 1244-1245.
Sobota, A., & Ozakinci, G. (2015). The quality and readability of online consumer information about gynecologic cancer. International Journal of Gynecological Cancer, 25(3), 537-541.
Statcounter. (2020). Search Engine Market Share Brazil. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share/all/brazil.
Wahl, C., Gregoire, J. P., Teo, K., Beaulieu, M., Labelle, S., Leduc, B., Cochrane, B., Lapointe, L., & Montague, T. (2005). Concordance, compliance and adherence in healthcare: closing gaps and improving outcomes. Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.), 8(1), 65-70.
World Health Organization (2017). Communicating risk in public health emergencies: a WHO guideline for emergency risk communication (ERC) policy and practice Switzerland. ISBN 978-92-4-155020-8
Yang, T., Gentile, M., Shen, C. F., & Cheng, C. M. (2020). Combining Point-of-Care Diagnostics and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) to Combat the COVID-19 Pandemic. Diagnostics (Basel), 10(4).
Zarocostas, J. (2020). How to fight an infodemic. Lancet, 395(10225), 676. http://doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(20)30461-x
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Paulo Cardoso Lins-Filho; Millena Mirella Silva de Araújo; Thuanny Silva de Macêdo; Andressa Kelly Alves Ferreira; Maria Cecilia Freire de Melo; Jaciel Leandro de Melo Freitas; Elizabeth Louisy Marques Soares da Silva; Thaise Urbano Caldas; Gustavo Pina Godoy; Arnaldo de França Caldas Jr.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
