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Assessment of the quality and content of website health information about herbal remedies for menopausal symptoms

Sowter, Julie
; 
Astin, F.
; 
Dye, L.
; 
Marshall, P.
; 
Knapp, P.
Publication Date
2016
End of Embargo
Supervisor
Keywords
Menopause, World Wide Web, Internet, Health information, Herbal remedies
Rights
© 2016 Elsevier B.V. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
cb
Peer-Reviewed
Yes
Open Access status
openAccess
Accepted for publication
2016-02-26
Institution
Department
Awarded
Embargo end date
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Life Sciences Publications
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Abstract
Objective To assess the quality, readability and coverage of website information about herbal remedies for menopausal symptoms. Study design A purposive sample of commercial and non-commercial websites was assessed for quality (DISCERN), readability (SMOG) and information coverage. Main outcome measures Non-parametric and parametric tests were used to explain the variability of these factors across types of websites and to assess associations between website quality and information coverage. Results 39 sites were assessed. Median quality and information coverage scores were 44/80 and 11/30 respectively. The median readability score was 18.7, similar to UK broadsheets. Commercial websites scored significantly lower on quality (p = 0.014), but there were no statistical differences for information coverage or readability. There was a significant positive correlation between information quality and coverage scores irrespective of website provider (r = 0.69, p < 0.001, n = 39). Conclusion Overall website quality and information coverage are poor and the required reading level high.
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10454/8407
Version
Accepted manuscript
Citation
Sowter J, Astin F, Dye L, Marshall P and Knapp P (2016) Assessment of the quality and content of website health information about herbal remedies for menopausal symptoms. Maturitas. 88: 16-22.
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Link to Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2016.02.016
Type
Article
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