Readability of online COVID-19 health information: a comparison between four English speaking countries
| Autor: | Samuel J. McConkey, Aine O'Neill, Kenneth P Thornton, Eoghan de Barra, Mary J Connolly, Cora McNally, Murray O'Doherty, Amy P Worrall |
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| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Canada
medicine.medical_specialty Coronarvirus pandemic Universal design Pneumonia Viral Internet privacy Health literacy Readability 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Health care medicine Humans 030212 general & internal medicine Misinformation Pandemics Internet Consumer Health Information business.industry lcsh:Public aspects of medicine Public health Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health COVID-19 lcsh:RA1-1270 United Kingdom United States Health information 030220 oncology & carcinogenesis Information source The Internet Comprehension Coronavirus Infections business Ireland Research Article |
| Zdroj: | BMC Public Health, Vol 20, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2020) BMC Public Health |
| ISSN: | 1471-2458 |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12889-020-09710-5 |
| Popis: | Background The internet is now the first line source of health information for many people worldwide. In the current Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic, health information is being produced, revised, updated and disseminated at an increasingly rapid rate. The general public are faced with a plethora of misinformation regarding COVID-19 and the readability of online information has an impact on their understanding of the disease. The accessibility of online healthcare information relating to COVID-19 is unknown. We sought to evaluate the readability of online information relating to COVID-19 in four English speaking regions: Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, and compare readability of website source provenance and regional origin. Methods The Google® search engine was used to collate the first 20 webpage URLs for three individual searches for ‘COVID’, ‘COVID-19’, and ‘coronavirus’ from Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. The Gunning Fog Index (GFI), Flesch-Kincaid Grade (FKG) Score, Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES), Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) score were calculated to assess the readability. Results There were poor levels of readability webpages reviewed, with only 17.2% of webpages at a universally readable level. There was a significant difference in readability between the different webpages based on their information source (p Conclusion Much of the general public have relied on online information during the pandemic. Information on COVID-19 should be made more readable, and those writing webpages and information tools should ensure universal accessibility is considered in their production. Governments and healthcare practitioners should have an awareness of the online sources of information available, and ensure that readability of our own productions is at a universally readable level which will increase understanding and adherence to health guidelines. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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