A multilingual assessment of melanoma information quality on the Internet

Research on Influencing Factors of Satisfaction with the Use of Public Health Internet Platform: Evidence from Ding Xiang Doctor (DXY) Internet Medical Platform

With the rapid development of Internet information technology, Internet medical platforms are gradually entering daily life. Especially after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, it becomes very difficult for patients to go out for medical treatment, and the Internet medical platform plays an important role. The study of the use and influencing factors of Internet medical platforms has become a new topic. In this study, evidence from the Chinese Internet medical platform Ding Xiang Doctor(DXY) is combined with an integrated approach of hierarchical analysis and the entropy value method to construct evaluation indexes and questionnaires from four dimensions of perceived quality, perceived value, user trust, and user involvement to analyze the factors influencing users' satisfaction with Internet medical platforms. The questionnaires were distributed online, and 556 questionnaires were distributed from June to August 2022; 520 questionnaires were collected; the questionnaires' recovery rate was 93.53%; after excluding some invalid questionnaires, 424 questionnaires remained; the questionnaire efficiency was 81.54%; the Cronbach coefficient was 0.978; the KMO(Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) value was 0.977; and the reliability performance was good. The study concluded that: (1) Users pay more attention to the content of perceived value, including the cost of time, economy, expense, and effort spent, and emphasize the degree of personal benefit. (2) Users are less satisfied with the information accessibility, design aesthetics, information timeliness, information comprehensiveness, and classification clarity of the DXY platform. (3) Users pay most attention to the protection of personal privacy by the platform side in the dimension of perceived value. (4) Users' trust in the platform is relatively high, their willingness to use the platform in the future is strong, and the dimensions of online interactive discussion, willingness to pay, and paid services are highly recognized.

Exploring the Most Visible German Websites on Melanoma Immunotherapy: A Web-Based Analysis

Background

Patients diagnosed with melanoma frequently search the internet for treatment information, including novel and complex immunotherapy. However, health literacy is limited among half of the German population, and no assessment of websites on melanoma treatment has been performed so far.

Objective

The aim of this study was to identify and assess the most visible websites in German language on melanoma immunotherapy.

Methods

In accordance with the common Web-based information-seeking behavior of patients with cancer, the first 20 hits on Google, Yahoo, and Bing were searched for combinations of German synonyms for “melanoma” and “immunotherapy” in July 2017. Websites that met our predefined eligibility criteria were considered for assessment. Three reviewers independently assessed their quality by using the established DISCERN tool and by checking the presence of quality certification. Usability and reliability were evaluated by the LIDA tool and understandability by the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT). The Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES) was calculated to estimate the readability. The ALEXA and SISTRIX tools were used to investigate the websites’ popularity and visibility. The interrater agreement was determined by calculating Cronbach alpha. Subgroup differences were identified by t test, U test, or one-way analysis of variance.

Results

Of 480 hits, 45 single websites from 30 domains were assessed. Only 2 website domains displayed a German quality certification. The average assessment scores, mean (SD), were as follows: DISCERN, 48 (7.6); LIDA (usability), 40 (2.0); LIDA (reliability), 10 (1.6); PEMAT, 69% (16%); and FRES, 17 (14), indicating mediocre quality, good usability, and understandability but low reliability and an even very low readability of the included individual websites. SISTRIX scores ranged from 0 to 6872 and ALEXA scores ranged from 17 to 192,675, indicating heterogeneity of the visibility and popularity of German website domains providing information on melanoma immunotherapy.

Conclusions

Optimization of the most accessible German websites on melanoma immunotherapy is desirable. Especially, simplification of the readability of information and further adaption to reliability criteria are required to support the education of patients with melanoma and laypersons, and to enhance transparency.