The
cyber doctor will see you now
Page 2
...health
information as the third most popular use of the Internet, after
e-mail and researching products. Of all adult Internet users,
80 percent, or about 93 million Americans, research health topics
online. Most individuals surveyed by Pew claimed that the Internet
has positively affected their health and they trust the information
they find.
However, numerous studies have shown that, in many cases, patients
should not believe the health material they read on the Web. These
studies have identified three main problems facing Internet health
surfers: inaccurate information, complicated writing style and
ineffective search engines.
Inaccurate health Web sites outnumber reliable sites, according
to doctors. For example, Dr. Gunther Eysenbach of Toronto General
Hospital’s Centre for Global eHealth Innovation and his
associates reviewed 79 studies of the quality of Internet health
information. In their evaluation of the methods the researchers
used to assess the Web sites, they found that only nine percent
of the investigations described Internet health information as
reliable. Those investigations used lower standards that the other
studies. According to a report by Dr. Gretchen Berland and her
colleagues at the RAND Corporation for research analysis, more
than half of Web health sites contain conflicting material. For
example, they discovered a childhood asthma Web site that in one
area reported that inhaled steroids stunt children’s growth
and then in another area that they do not. Many sites are incomplete,
ignoring half of the topics doctors considered essential for visitors
of the particular site, Dr. Berland and her associates reported.
For example, few sites that discussed suicidal thoughts advised
people having these thoughts to “seek care promptly.”
The complicated terms and long sentences health Web sites use
often confuse people, leading them to trust information precisely
because they cannot understand it, according to Pew. Those surveyed
said that they assume Web authors must know what they are explaining
when they use complicated terms, just as the sprinkling of technical
words in conversation can make anyone sound like an expert.The
average reading level of Internet health information was high
at 13.2, the level on which a college freshman should be able
to read. Pew reported that the average consumer reads on a much
lower reading level, sixth to eighth grade, making most health
information too difficult
for them to fully understand. Marketers write most consumer materials
on seventh to...
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