title: Development and content validation of the information assessment method for patients and consumers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Online consumer health information addresses health problems, self-care, disease prevention, and health care services and is intended for the general public. Using this information, people can improve their knowledge, participation in health decision-making, and health. However, there are no comprehensive instruments to evaluate the value of health information from a consumer perspective.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We collaborated with information providers to develop and validate the Information Assessment Method for all (IAM4all) that can be used to collect feedback from information consumers (including patients), and to enable a two-way knowledge translation between information providers and consumers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Content validation steps were followed to develop the IAM4all questionnaire. The first version was based on a theoretical framework from information science, a critical literature review and prior work. Then, 16 laypersons were interviewed on their experience with online health information and specifically their impression of the IAM4all questionnaire. Based on the summaries and interpretations of interviews, questionnaire items were revised, added, and excluded, thus creating the second version of the questionnaire. Subsequently, a panel of 12 information specialists and 8 health researchers participated in an online survey to rate each questionnaire item for relevance, clarity, representativeness, and specificity. The result of this expert panel contributed to the third, current, version of the questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The current version of the IAM4all questionnaire is structured by four levels of outcomes of information seeking/receiving: situational relevance, cognitive impact, information use, and health benefits. Following the interviews and the expert panel survey, 9 questionnaire items were confirmed as relevant, clear, representative, and specific. To improve readability and accessibility for users with a lower level of literacy, 19 items were reworded and all inconsistencies in using a passive or active voice have been solved. One item was removed due to redundancy. The current version of the IAM4all questionnaire contains 28 items.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We developed and content validated the IAM4all in partnership with information providers, information specialists, researchers and representatives of information consumers. This questionnaire can be integrated within electronic knowledge resources to stimulate users' reflection (eg, their intention to use information). We claim that any organization (eg, publishers, community organizations, or patient associations), can evaluate and improve their online consumer health information from a consumers' perspective using this method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. pierre.pluye@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pluye
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Granikov
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bartlett
authors.forename: Roland M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Grad
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Janique
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Johnson-Lafleur
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shulha
authors.forename: Maria Cristiane
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Barbosa Galvão
authors.forename: Ivan Lm
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Ricarte
authors.forename: Randolph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stephenson
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shohet
authors.forename: Jo-Anne
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hutsul
authors.forename: Carol A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Repchinsky
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Burnand
authors.forename: France
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Légaré
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dunikowski
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boruff
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Frati
authors.forename: Lorie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kloda
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Macaulay
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lagarde
authors.forename: Geneviève
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Doray
keywords: consumer health information; consumer-centered outcomes; content validity; information retrieval; information use; push technology