Measuring the Relevance of Evaluation Criteria among Health Information Seekers on the Internet

Abstract

This study identified the criteria that are valued among Internet users when rating and accessing health information on the World Wide Web. Participants (N = 578) successfully completed a Web-based survey by ranking 12 criteria for evaluating health information. Then, by applying those same evaluation criteria, rated the quality of three preselected health-related websites and indicated their preference for one of the three sites. Six criteria including content, design and aesthetics, currency of information and contact addresses were significant predictors for selecting high-quality health information on the Internet. However, compared to their perceived importance, participants' perceptions about quality health information on the Internet were not consistent when selecting quality websites. This study identified the implications for evaluation criteria among Internet users, health professionals and website developers.