Assessing the quality of infertility resources on the World Wide Web: tools to guide clients through the maze of fact and fiction.
The Internet has become a major source of health information for women, but information placed on the World Wide Web does not routinely undergo a peer review process before dissemination. In this study, we present an analysis of 197 infertility-related Web sites for quality and accountability, using JAMA's minimal core standards for responsible print. Only 2% of the web sites analyzed met all four recommended standards, and 50.8% failed to report any of the four. Commercial web sites were more likely to fail to meet minimum standards (71.2%) than those with educational (46.8%) or supportive (29.8%) elements. Web sites with educational and informational components were most common (70.6%), followed by commercial sites (52.8%) and sites that offered a forum for infertility support and activism (28.9%). Internet resources available to infertile patients are at best variable. The current state of infertility-related materials on the World Wide Web offers unprecedented opportunities to improve services to a growing number of e-health users. Because of variations in quality of site content, women's health clinicians must assume responsibility for a new role as information monitor. This study provides assessment tools clinicians can apply and share with clients.
Department of Maternal and Child Health, Boston University School of Public Health, MA 02118, USA.
Kyoko
K
Okamura
Judith
J
Bernstein
Anne T
AT
Fidler
D001319:Authorship; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D007256:Information Systems / Q000592:standards*; D020407:Internet / Q000592:standards; D008389:Marketing of Health Services / Q000379:methods; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D012944:Social Support