A PILOT STUDY ABOUT QUALITY OF INFORMATION AT HEALTH RELATED IN TURKISH WEB SITES: MENISCUS TEAR

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the reliability of health related data available to patients at Turkish websites. For this purpose, meniscus tear was chosen as a subject for the pilot study. Material and Method: The terms 'meniscus tear' and 'meniscus' were each screened separately at the most commonly used search engines in Turkey: Google, Yahoo and MSN. As a result of the screening, the first 10 sites listed at each search engine were identified and the common ones among them were eliminated. The content of each remaining site was assessed by using 20 point scale according to the headings listed in Table 1. Results: Mean score of sites giving information about meniscus tear in Turkish web sites was determined as 12.09 (min:1, max:18, SD:4.28) out of 20. Discussion: To the best of our knowledge, our study was the first one evaluating the quality of information at Turkish websites. It was shown that the quality of information was poor internet sites documented in Turkish. Internet is gradually becoming an important source of information and this will increase gradually. At present, reliability of health related data in the internet should be approached as a public health issue affecting large populations. Conclusions: Similar studies providing further data would shed the light on the current situation and would form the basis for areas to improve the quality of information.