Quality Assessment of Information on Oral Cancer Provided at Arabic Speaking Websites

Alakhali, Mohammed Sultan

doi:10.31557/apjcp.2020.21.4.961

Cited by 17 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Hence, consumers must be warned about the websites categorized under "commercial, " and "journalism" since the quality of health information therein is questionable. This finding is consistent with the results of a recent study conducted to assess the quality of web-based Arabic information on oral cancer [31].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Quality and readability of web-based Arabic health information on periodontal disease

Alakhali

Fageeh

Halboub

et al. 2021

BMC Med Inform Decis Mak

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Background Currently, the Internet seems to be a helpful tool for obtaining information about everything that we think about, including diseases, their prevention and treatment approaches. However, doubts exist regarding the quality and readability of such information. This study sought to assess the quality and readability of web-based Arabic information on periodontal disease. Methods In this infodemiological study, the Google, Yahoo!, and Bing search engines were searched using specific Arabic terms on periodontal disease. The first 100 consecutive websites from each engine were obtained. The eligible websites were categorized as commercial, health/professional, journalism, and other. The following tools were applied to assess the quality of the information on the included websites: the Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONcode), the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmarks, and the DISCERN tool. The readability was assessed using an online readability tool. Results Of the 300 websites, 89 were eligible for quality and readability analyses. Only two websites (2.3%) were HONcode certified. Based on the DISCERN tool, 43 (48.3%) websites had low scores. The mean score of the JAMA benchmarks was 1.6 ± 1.0, but only 3 (3.4%) websites achieved “yes” responses for all four JAMA criteria. Based on the DISCERN tool, health/professional websites revealed the highest quality of information compared to other website categories. Most of the health/professional websites revealed moderate-quality information, while 55% of the commercial websites, 66% of journalism websites, and 43% of other websites showed poor quality information. Regarding readability, most of the analyzed websites presented simple and readable written content. Conclusions Aside from readable content, Arabic health information on the analyzed websites on periodontal disease is below the required level of quality.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Quality and readability of web-based Arabic health information on periodontal disease

Alakhali

Fageeh

Halboub

et al. 2021

BMC Med Inform Decis Mak

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“…However, 13 (36.1%) websites had a moderate score (33-64). The remaining 23 (63.9%) had a low score (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32). The mean score for all websites was 31.5 ± 12.55.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Arabic world, very few people speak/read English, and no certified Arabic medical websites are available, except for those of international organizations that translate their content into different languages [12][13][14][15][16]. At a time when the Arabic world as elsewhere is continuing to combat COVID-19, many Arabic medical, educational, social, news, and even sports websites are publishing materials regarding the disease.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality and readability of web-based Arabic health information on COVID-19: an infodemiological study

et al. 2021

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Background This study sought to assess the quality and readability of web-based Arabic health information on COVID-19. Methods Three search engines were searched on 13 April 2020 for specific Arabic terms on COVID-19. The first 100 consecutive websites from each engine were analyzed for eligibility, which resulted in a sample of 36 websites. These websites were subjected to quality assessments using the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmarks tool, the DISCERN tool, and Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONcode) certification. The readability of the websites was assessed using an online readability calculator. Results Among the 36 eligible websites, only one (2.7%) was HONcode certified. No website attained a high score based on the criteria of the DISCERN tool; the mean score of all websites was 31.5 ± 12.55. As regards the JAMA benchmarks results, a mean score of 2.08 ± 1.05 was achieved by the websites; however, only four (11.1%) met all the JAMA criteria. The average grade levels for readability were 7.2 ± 7.5, 3.3 ± 0.6 and 93.5 ± 19.4 for the Flesch Kincaid Grade Level, Simple Measure of Gobbledygook, and Flesch Reading Ease scales, respectively. Conclusion Almost all of the most easily accessible web-based Arabic health information on COVID-19 does not meet recognized quality standards regardless of the level of readability and ability to be understood by the general population of Arabic speakers.

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“…Assessing web-based Arabic medical information has been scarcely addressed but in context of few medical conditions other than COVID-19 like oral cancer [11], breast cancer [10], epilepsy [9], autism [8], and oral health [7].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Arabic world, very few speak English, and no certi ed Arabic medical websites are available, except for the international organizations websites that translate their contents into different languages [7][8][9][10][11]. In the time of COVID-19, many Arabic medical, educational, social, news, and even sports websites publish materials regarding the disease.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality and readability of web-based Arabic health information on COVID-19: Infodemiology study

Halboub

Alakhali

Al-Mekhlafi

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Objective: The study sought to assess the quality and readability of the web-based Arabic health information on COVID-19. Methods: Selected search engines were searched on 13 April 2020 for specific Arabic terms on COVID-19. The first 100 consecutive websites from each engine were obtained. The quality of the websites was analyzed using the Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONcode), the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmarks, and the DISCERN benchmarks instrument. The readability was assessed using an online readability calculator tool. Results: Overall, 36 websites were found eligible for quality and readability analyses. Only one website (2.7%) was HONcode certified. No single website attained a high score based on the DISCERN tool; the mean score of all websites was 31.5±12.55. Regarding JAMA benchmarks, a mean score of 2.08±1.05 was achieved by the websites; however, only 4 (11.1%) websites achieved all JAMA criteria. The average grade levels for readability were 7.2±7.5, 3.3±0.6 and 93.5±19.4 for Flesch Kincaid Grade level, SMOG, Flesch Reading Ease, respectively. Conclusion: Most of the available web-based Arabic health information on COVID-19 doesn’t have the required level of quality, irrespective of being easy to read and understand by most of the general people.

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Quality Assessment of Information on Oral Cancer Provided at Arabic Speaking Websites

Cited by 17 publications

References 15 publications

Quality and readability of web-based Arabic health information on periodontal disease

Quality and readability of web-based Arabic health information on periodontal disease

Quality and readability of web-based Arabic health information on COVID-19: an infodemiological study

Quality and readability of web-based Arabic health information on COVID-19: Infodemiology study

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