TY - JOUR
T1 - A systematic review of patient inflammatory bowel disease information resources on the world wide web
AU - Bernard, André
AU - Langille, Morgan
AU - Hughes, Stephanie
AU - Rose, Caren
AU - Leddin, Desmond
AU - Veldhuyzen Van Zanten, Sander
PY - 2007/9
Y1 - 2007/9
N2 - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The Internet is a widely used information resource for patients with inflammatory bowel disease, but there is variation in the quality of Web sites that have patient information regarding Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The purpose of the current study is to systematically evaluate the quality of these Web sites. METHODS: The top 50 Web sites appearing in Google™ using the terms "Crohn's disease" or "ulcerative colitis" were included in the study. Web sites were evaluated using a (a) Quality Evaluation Instrument (QEI) that awarded Web sites points (0-107) for specific information on various aspects of inflammatory bowel disease, (b) a five-point Global Quality Score (GQS), (c) two reading grade level scores, and (d) a six-point integrity score. RESULTS: Thirty-four Web sites met the inclusion criteria, 16 Web sites were excluded because they were portals or non-IBD oriented. The median QEI score was 57 with five Web sites scoring higher than 75 points. The median Global Quality Score was 2.0 with five Web sites achieving scores of 4 or 5. The average reading grade level score was 11.2. The median integrity score was 3.0. CONCLUSIONS: There is marked variation in the quality of the Web sites containing information on Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Many Web sites suffered from poor quality but there were five high-scoring Web sites.
AB - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The Internet is a widely used information resource for patients with inflammatory bowel disease, but there is variation in the quality of Web sites that have patient information regarding Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The purpose of the current study is to systematically evaluate the quality of these Web sites. METHODS: The top 50 Web sites appearing in Google™ using the terms "Crohn's disease" or "ulcerative colitis" were included in the study. Web sites were evaluated using a (a) Quality Evaluation Instrument (QEI) that awarded Web sites points (0-107) for specific information on various aspects of inflammatory bowel disease, (b) a five-point Global Quality Score (GQS), (c) two reading grade level scores, and (d) a six-point integrity score. RESULTS: Thirty-four Web sites met the inclusion criteria, 16 Web sites were excluded because they were portals or non-IBD oriented. The median QEI score was 57 with five Web sites scoring higher than 75 points. The median Global Quality Score was 2.0 with five Web sites achieving scores of 4 or 5. The average reading grade level score was 11.2. The median integrity score was 3.0. CONCLUSIONS: There is marked variation in the quality of the Web sites containing information on Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Many Web sites suffered from poor quality but there were five high-scoring Web sites.
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U2 - 10.1111/j.1572-0241.2007.01325.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1572-0241.2007.01325.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 17511753
AN - SCOPUS:34548131593
SN - 0002-9270
VL - 102
SP - 2070
EP - 2077
JO - American Journal of Gastroenterology
JF - American Journal of Gastroenterology
IS - 9
ER -