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Vol. 11 Issue 1, Winter 2006

Credible Health Information on the Web
The Ribbon 

Ellen Hartman
BCERF Staff Writer

Last year BCERF revamped our web site. During the course of the project we collected information on accepted standards for presenting health information on the web, and then incorporated those standards into our redesigned site. In addition we learned what measures of quality are commonly used to determine the trustworthiness of web sites, particularly health information web sites.

Some sites that offer listings of criteria useful in evaluating health information web sites are the Health on the Net Foundation, URAC, and the Stanford University Web Credibility Project.

Visitors to health information web sites can do their own evaluation of the site by checking for easily located information about the source and purpose of the information, funding, links to other groups or companies, and privacy.

The source and purpose of the posted information should always be clear. A trustworthy web site will make it easy to discover who wrote the information, when it was written and/or revised, what the author's credentials are, and whether the information is fact or opinion. Web sites can meet these criteria by including the name of the author with each piece, publication and revision dates, references, and links to author biographies including pertinent credentials.

Links to and from the web site to other groups and organizations should be identified as links and explained. If a web site is commercial, any links or influences from advertisers should be identified as commercial, not informational. If the web site provides links to other sites, the links should be accompanied by a statement explaining the endorsement policy. If following a link takes a visitor off the original web site and to another, that should be stated.

Credible web health resources provide facts about funding sources. Many health information web sites are funded by companies with an interest in providing products or services. This must be clear to visitors. Other health information sites are not-for-profit but are funded by diverse groups. These sources of funding support must also be disclosed.

Patient privacy should be at the forefront for web health sites that collect personal information. If the web site asks for any type of personal information, it must include a privacy policy and must disclose all uses of the collected information. A best practice is for the web site to allow visitors to "opt in" or agree to provide the information before it is collected. There should also be a provision for destroying personal information at the request of the visitor.

While evaluating health web sites using these general criteria will help to identify credible sources, always check with your physician about any treatment recommendations.

Web Credibility Checks

BCERF Standards
BCERF has always had a full-disclosure policy. We identify our authors, their credentials, references, and publication and revision dates for our web resources. We also include information about our grant funding. While we track hits to our pages in order to understand which resources are the most widely-used, we have never collected personally identifiable information about visitors. In addition to these basic standards, we evaluate our materials for readability, usefulness, and accuracy. Some of the evaluation methods we've employed include surveys, focus groups, usability testing, and peer-reviews.
We also submitted our site to the Health on the Web Foundation and have been given an Honor Code seal according to their health web site standards.
In fact, you can participate in our evaluation efforts by taking the survey posted on our home page. We always appreciate input. Contact us through the email or postal addresses listed on the back page of The Ribbon.

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Last Update 03.22.06