Assessing COVID-19 Health Information on Google Using the Quality Evaluation Scoring Tool (QUEST): Cross-sectional and Readability Analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred an increase in online information regarding disease spread and symptomatology.

Objective

Our purpose is to systematically assess the quality and readability of articles resulting from frequently Google-searched COVID-19 terms in the United States.

Methods

We used Google Trends to determine the 25 most commonly searched health-related phrases between February 29 and April 30, 2020. The first 30 search results for each term were collected, and articles were analyzed using the Quality Evaluation Scoring Tool (QUEST). Three raters scored each article in authorship, attribution, conflict of interest, currency, complementarity, and tone. A readability analysis was conducted.

Results

Exactly 709 articles were screened, and 195

SUBMITTER: Bachu VS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8843082 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature