Quality of web-based information on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Quality of patient-oriented online information on treatment of dementia: A comparative assessment of web pages in English and Hindi language

Background

Management of dementia involves a multidisciplinary approach which also requires active participation from family members and caregivers. Thus, having easy access to information about dementia care is pertinent. Internet-based information is an emerging method for the same.

Aim

To perform a comparative assessment of patient-oriented online information available on treatment of dementia over web pages in English and Hindi language.

Methods

Observational study was conducted online through a general internet search engine (www.google.com). Web pages containing patient-oriented online information on treatment of dementia in English and Hindi were reviewed to assess their content and quality, esthetics, and interactivity. Appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.

Results

A total of 70 web pages met the eligibility criteria. Content quality assessed using the DISCERN score was significantly higher for English web pages compared to Hindi web pages (P < 0.01). About 72.4% (21/29) of English and only 9.8% (4/41) of Hindi web pages had a total DISCERN score of 40 or above, indicating good quality. For esthetics, the median score for English pages was significantly higher than for Hindi web pages (P < 0.01). The web pages with Health On Net (HON) certification had significantly better content quality.

Conclusion

Our study revealed a scarcity of good quality online information about dementia and its treatment, especially in the Hindi language. English language websites showed better content quality than Hindi websites. HON Code label might be used as an indicator of better content quality for online resources informing on dementia treatment by lay people.

Quality and readability of online information on plantar fasciitis and calcaneal spur

Plantar fasciitis and calcaneal spur are common causes of heel pain in the community. People use the Internet to obtain medical information about diseases. We reviewed Internet information sources on plantar fasciitis and calcaneal spur for quality and readability. The first 50 websites for each search term ("calcaneal spur", "heel spur", and "plantar fasciitis") were scanned on www.google.com . Six different valid tools were used for information quality and readability assessment. We searched for HONCode (Health On the Net Foundation Code) stamps on included websites. The total mean points for DISCERN were 50.52 ± 14.62, and the total mean points for JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) were 2.42 ± 1.26. In total, 25.72% of 97 websites had HONCode stamps. The average scores for the readability indicators were calculated to be Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL): 7.27 ± 1.71, Gunning Fog: 8.46 ± 2.17, Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG): 6.89 ± 1.24, and Coleman Liau Index: 15.56 ± 1.85. In our study, when the website resources were examined, there were profit websites the most and website quality and readability were moderate level. A significant proportion of the websites have a financial bias and provide low-quality information. A mechanism for monitoring the quality and readability of online information must be established and managed systematically.