fmed-05-00260 (1).pdf (889.7 kB)
What is health information quality? Ethical dimension and perception by users
Version 2 2023-06-12, 07:25
Version 1 2023-06-09, 14:52
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-12, 07:25 authored by Majed Al-Jefri, Roger Evans, Gulden Uchyigit, Pietro GhezziIntroduction. The popularity of seeking health information online makes information quality (IQ) a public health issue. The present study aims at building a theoretical framework of health information quality (HIQ) that can be applied to websites and defines which IQ criteria are important for a website to be trustworthy and meet users’ expectations. Methods. We have identified a list of HIQ criteria from existing tools and assessment criteria and elaborated them into a questionnaire that was promoted via social media and mainly the University. Responses (329) were used to rank the different criteria for their importance in trusting a website and to identify patterns of criteria using hierarchical cluster analysis. Results. HIQ criteria were organized in five dimensions based on previous theoretical frameworks as well as on how they cluster together in the questionnaire response. We could identify a top-ranking dimension (scientific completeness) that describes what the user is expecting to know from the websites (in particular: description of symptoms, treatments, side effects). Cluster analysis also identified a number of criteria borrowed from existing tools for assessing HIQ that could be subsumed to a broad “ethical” dimension (such as conflict of interests, privacy, advertising policies) that were, in general, ranked of low importance by the participants. Subgroup analysis revealed significant differences in the importance assigned to the various criteria based on gender, nationality and whether or not of a biomedical educational background. Conclusions. We identified criteria of HIQ and organized them in dimensions. We observed that ethical criteria, while regarded highly in the academic and medical environment, are not considered highly by the public.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
Frontiers in MedicineISSN
2296-858XPublisher
Frontiers MediaExternal DOI
Issue
260Volume
5Page range
1-10Department affiliated with
- BSMS Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2018-08-31First Open Access (FOA) Date
2018-08-31First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2018-08-30Usage metrics
Categories
No categories selectedLicence
Exports
RefWorks
BibTeX
Ref. manager
Endnote
DataCite
NLM
DC