Health websites on COVID-19: are they readable and credible enough to help public self-care?

ABSTRACT:

Objective

There are concerns about nonscientific and/or unclear information on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that is available on the Internet. Furthermore, people's ability to understand health information varies and depends on their skills in reading and interpreting information. This study aims to evaluate the readability and creditability of websites with COVID-19-related information.

Methods

The search terms "coronavirus," "COVID," and "COVID-19" were input into Google. The websites of the first thirty results for each search term were evaluated in terms of their credibility and readability using the Health On the Net Foundation code of conduct (HONcode) and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL), Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG), Gunning Fog, and Flesch Readi

SUBMITTER: Valizadeh-Haghi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7772974 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature