Assessing the Reliability of a Health Information Website
The world wide web is a remarkable source of both accurate and grossly inaccurate health information. To help you decide if a web site is reliable or not, Aberdeen has put together some informal information. | All health information taken from the World Wide Web (www) should be accessed from web sites that are accredited with Health on the Net (HON) or which meet the Health on the Net accreditation standards. | When reviewing a website, make sure it meets the following 7 criteria: | | 1. Authoritative | Indicate the qualifications of the authors. Any medical or health advice provided and hosted on a reliable site will only be given by medically trained and qualified professionals unless a clear statement is made that a piece of advice offered is from a non-medically qualified individual or organisation.
| 2. Complementarity | The information provided on a reliable site is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her existing physician. |  | 3. Privacy | The Web site owners must show that they undertake to honour or exceed the legal requirements of medical/health information privacy that apply in the country and state where the Web site and mirror sites are located. | 4. Attribution | A trustworthy web site will cite the source(s) of published information, date and medical and health pages. Where appropriate, information contained on the site will be supported by clear references to source data and, where possible, have specific HTML links to that dataThe date when a clinical page was last modified will be clearly displayed (e.g. at the bottom of the page). | 5. Justifiability | Any claims relating to the benefits/performance of a specific treatment, commercial product or service will be supported by appropriate, balanced evidence. | 6. Transparency | The designers of a reliable web site will seek to provide information in the clearest possible manner and provide contact addresses for visitors that seek further information or support. The Webmaster will display his/her E-mail address clearly throughout the Web site. | 7. Financial disclosure | Financial support for a reliable web site will be clearly identified, including the identities of commercial and non-commercial organizations that have contributed funding, services or material for the site. | | Sources: http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Conduct.html Downloaded December 7, 2007 @ 0900 by H. Bruce | | http://www.canadian-health-network.ca Quality Assurance Framework www.healthonnet.org Trustworthy health and medical information: the Health On the Net initiative. October 9, 2006 | http://www.medcircle.org/ The Collaboration for Internet Rating, Certification, Labeling and Evaluation of Health Information |
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