Evaluating Health Information

Health Information evaluation assesses the accuracy, currency and applicability of information from health care providers, commercial sources, libraries and bookstores, and the web. 

 Eighty percent of adult Internet users search of health information on the Internet. ¹  While there are many sites that provide reliable health information, there are even more that do not.  It is essential for health information seekers to be able to differentiate between reliable and unreliable or misleading health information resources.  The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine suggests that users ask themselves the following ten questions in order to evaluate and determine credible health information websites from noncredible websites: “who runs this site, who pays for this site, what is the purpose of this site, where does the information come from, what is the basis of the information, how is the information selected, how current is the information, how does the site choose links to other sites, what information about you does the site collect, and why, and how does the site manage interactions with visitors.”² 

 Identifying who runs and pays for a website in question helps to determine the motive of the website’s sponsors.  If the website is a government website, ending with .gov; an educational institution website, ending with .edu; or an organizational website, ending with .org, information provided is more likely to be specifically for the education and benefit of the reader.  Such websites are also more likely to be reviewed for accuracy by professionals in the field.  Websites ending with .com are often commercial websites.  Some of these websites may provide outstanding medical information, but others may be designed with a purpose to specifically support a particular product or viewpoint.  In addition, .com websites can be created by anyone and there are less standards for the quality of information provided. It is essential that information searchers be able to differentiate between a website that aims to educate them on the most up-to-date health information and a website that misleads or aims to commercially promote a specific product or ideology.  Due to the high level of information turnover in the medical field, medical information that was cutting-edge two years ago may be obsolete today.  Thus, websites that are frequently updated are preferable to those that haven’t been updated in a while.  Reliable health information websites provide a description of the purpose of the site, who runs the site, how information is selected, and how information is screened for accuracy, all in a timely manner. 

• Evaluating Health Information
• Health Information Literacy