Functional endoscopic sinus surgery: assessing the readability and quality of online information

Raja, Haseem; Patel, Kevin

doi:10.1308/rcsann.2022.0123

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 14 publications

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“…Physicians should be aware that membership in a CRS OSC may guide a patient toward certain treatment modalities such as alternatives to conventional Western medicine. In our increasingly digital world, OSCs act as another medium for health literacy though the accuracy of health information on these websites is likely highly variable based on previous studies of other otolaryngology disease content on social media 28,29 . Otolaryngologists should be aware of the possible influence of CRS OSCs on patient decision making and further research is needed to investigate the quality and accuracy of content posted on CRS OSCs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Exploratory Analysis of the Chronic Rhinosinusitis Online Support Community

Ulloa,

Tam,

Orozco

et al. 2023

OTO Open

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ObjectiveTo characterize the users of the largest chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) online support communities (OSCs), describe the perceived benefits of OSCs for their users, and understand how patient medical decision making is affected by membership in OSCs.Study DesignCross‐sectional online survey.SettingOnline.MethodsA cross‐sectional online survey was adapted from the existing literature on patient support groups and modified for CRS patients. The survey was posted on multiple Facebook/Reddit groups aimed at providing support toward patients with CRS. Survey data was collected over 3 months and analyzed thereafter.ResultsThere were 127 total participants. The majority were female (65.35%), white (76.98%), and the median age was 38 years. Just under half of patients had nasal polyps (48.67%) and 54.54% had undergone surgery. Many participants (69.42%) reported engaging in the OSC at least multiple times per month. The most common reason for joining an OSC was to learn tips on how to manage CRS (89.7%) and the most achieved goal from membership was hearing from others undergoing a similar experience (79.5%). Involvement in an OSC impacted knowledge of CRS in 87.41% of participants. Most users (81.1%) would recommend membership in an OSC and 54.33% reported the OSC influenced their medical decision‐making.ConclusionA majority of patients with CRS who frequently engage in an OSC for CRS have a positive experience. OSCs are a resource that CRS patients utilize to manage their disease.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Exploratory Analysis of the Chronic Rhinosinusitis Online Support Community

Ulloa,

Tam,

Orozco

et al. 2023

OTO Open

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The Readability and Quality of Web-Based Patient Information on Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: Quantitative Content Analysis

Tan,

Ko,

Fan

2023

JMIR Form Res

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Background Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a rare disease that is strongly associated with exposure to the Epstein-Barr virus and is characterized by the formation of malignant cells in nasopharynx tissues. Early diagnosis of NPC is often difficult owing to the location of initial tumor sites and the nonspecificity of initial symptoms, resulting in a higher frequency of advanced-stage diagnoses and a poorer prognosis. Access to high-quality, readable information could improve the early detection of the disease and provide support to patients during disease management. Objective This study aims to assess the quality and readability of publicly available web-based information in the English language about NPC, using the most popular search engines. Methods Key terms relevant to NPC were searched across 3 of the most popular internet search engines: Google, Yahoo, and Bing. The top 25 results from each search engine were included in the analysis. Websites that contained text written in languages other than English, required paywall access, targeted medical professionals, or included nontext content were excluded. Readability for each website was assessed using the Flesch Reading Ease score and the Flesch-Kincaid grade level. Website quality was assessed using the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and DISCERN tools as well as the presence of a Health on the Net Foundation seal. Results Overall, 57 suitable websites were included in this study; 26% (15/57) of the websites were academic. The mean JAMA and DISCERN scores of all websites were 2.80 (IQR 3) and 57.60 (IQR 19), respectively, with a median of 3 (IQR 2-4) and 61 (IQR 49-68), respectively. Health care industry websites (n=3) had the highest mean JAMA score of 4 (SD 0). Academic websites (15/57, 26%) had the highest mean DISCERN score of 77.5. The Health on the Net Foundation seal was present on only 1 website, which also achieved a JAMA score of 3 and a DISCERN score of 50. Significant differences were observed between the JAMA score of hospital websites and the scores of industry websites (P=.04), news service websites (P<.048), charity and nongovernmental organization websites (P=.03). Despite being a vital source for patients, general practitioner websites were found to have significantly lower JAMA scores compared with charity websites (P=.05). The overall mean readability scores reflected an average reading age of 14.3 (SD 1.1) years. Conclusions The results of this study suggest an inconsistent and suboptimal quality of information related to NPC on the internet. On average, websites presented readability challenges, as written information about NPC was above the recommended reading level of sixth grade. As such, web-based information requires improvement in both quality and accessibility, and healthcare providers should be selective about information recommended to patients, ensuring they are reliable and readable.

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Functional endoscopic sinus surgery: assessing the readability and quality of online information

Cited by 2 publications

References 14 publications

An Exploratory Analysis of the Chronic Rhinosinusitis Online Support Community

An Exploratory Analysis of the Chronic Rhinosinusitis Online Support Community

The Readability and Quality of Web-Based Patient Information on Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: Quantitative Content Analysis

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