Notions of reliability: considering the importance of difference in guiding patients to health care Web sites.
OBJECTIVE
This article analyzes the efforts of three organizations to provide a standard that guides Internet users to reliable health care sites.


METHODS
Comparison of health Internet sites, interviews and document studies.


RESULTS
In comparing these approaches, three different constructions of reliability are identified.


CONCLUSIONS
The resulting possibilities and restrictions of these constructions for users that are searching for health information on the Internet are revealed.
Adams
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Institute of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam P.O. Box 1738 3000 DR, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. adams@bmg.eur.nl
De Bont
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D016494:Computer Security; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services / Q000592:standards*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D020407:Internet / Q000592:standards*; D009426:Netherlands; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results