Abstract
During a public health crisis, the dissemination of reliable information, advice and experts’ opinions is essential for improving public comprehension of potential or actual health threats and enables the public to take informed decisions about risk mitigation measures. This study aimed to assess the quality, reliability and readability of internet-based information on COVID-19 available on Brazil’ most used search engines. A total of 68 websites were selected through Google, Bing, and Yahoo. The websites content quality and reliability were evaluated using the DISCERN questionnaire, the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) criteria, and the presence of the Health on Net (HON) certification. Readability was assessed by the Flesch Reading Ease adapted to Brazilian Portuguese (FRE-BP). The web contents were considered moderate to low quality according to DISCERN and JAMA mean scores. Most of the sample presented very difficult reading levels and only 7.4% displayed HON certification. Websites of Governmental and health-related authorship nature showed lower JAMA mean scores and quality and readability measures did not correlate to the webpages content type. COVID-19 related contents available online were considered of low to moderate quality and not accessible to general population. These findings indicate the need for further efforts on improving the quality of health-related content on internet, especially during public health emergencies.
Highlights
Health care is rapidly transitioning from a paternalistic approach to a person-centered model
Readability was assessed by the Flesch Reading Ease adapted to Brazilian Portuguese (FRE-BP)
The web contents were considered moderate to low quality according to DISCERN and Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) mean scores
Summary
Health care is rapidly transitioning from a paternalistic approach to a person-centered model. This process aims to improve health outcomes by building a shared decision-making process between healthcare professionals and patients, characterized by the greater involvement of people in resolutions and actions concerning their own health (Lee et al, 2018; Petersen et al, 2019). Often, and in accessible language standards, enables individuals to make choices and act to protect themselves, their families and communities from health hazards (World Health Organization, 2017). The WHO is dedicating tremendous efforts aimed at providing evidence-based information and advice to the population through its social media channels and a new information platform called WHO Information Network for Epidemics (Zarocostas, 2020)
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