Determining Quality Criteria for Online Health Information: A Qualitative Study

The Web is an important source of information for health care consumers, and the resources they find on the Web have a direct affect on their health outcomes. Despite the enormous benefits of online health care, the quality of health information on the Internet is an area of increasing concern. Therefore, there's a need to develop quality assessment tools that can filter out poor quality online health information. The purpose of this study is to explore the critical attributes for assessing website quality and for developing quality assessment measurements. We completed three focus group discussions with 24 participants that were administered by a moderator and based on specifically focused group questions. The results suggest that the most important quality criteria, as identified by the respondents, were related to issues of credibility and accuracy. To determine the credibility of Internet health information, the respondents stated one must consider the following: the information source, disclosure of the author's or organization's credentials/qualifications, disclosure of ownership and the updating of the content. For the accuracy of content, elements such as a statement of purpose, evidence-based information, relevance and completeness should be considered. Interactivity, accessibility, and design were additional quality criteria.