Biomedical subjects

Samantha Adams

Publications and source records attributed to Samantha Adams.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Looking for answers, constructing reliability: an exploration into how Dutch patients check web-based medical information.

INTRODUCTION: In the discussion about helping lay end users find reliable health-related information on the web, lay assessment practices of the reliability of information are often dismissed as insufficient. It is suggested that patients do not check important background information (authors, dates) for the medical content on websites. However, little effort has been made to understand how lay practices enable patients to assess information reliability in respect to their specific health situations. OBJECTIVE: This paper draws upon ethnographic research among Dutch patients to understand lay assessment practices. METHODS: We conducted qualitative interviews and observed patient search practices. Patients were asked to describe and then repeat the last searches they had conducted. They were also given standardized questions for searching for information. RESULTS: Patients did not utilize special user tools (checklists, seals, portals) to assist in searching for and evaluating information. However, we saw explicit strategies for checking information within their established patterns of searching, such as on and offline triangulation of information and checking information provider information and dates. CONCLUSION: Although patients do not follow standardized checklists, this is not to say that they are not assessing information. Their assessment processes are more extensive than current literature suggests.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Assessment strategies: how patients cope with the diverse quality levels of websites when searching for health information.

The quality of online medical information available for patients has long been a concern of health care professionals. [1-4] Although initiatives exist for patients to use when searching for information, there is the concern that these initiatives are either ineffective or even counter-productive. [5-6] Another criticism is that initiatives do not sufficiently achieve their respective goals. [7-8] It is important to consider that many initiatives have been designed with patients in mind, but not with patients involved. Various portals, seals, rating systems, ethical codes, etc., exist ostensibly for patients, but arose largely without concrete input from real patients-as-end-users. Literature addressing usability on the basis of studies assessing real patients' searching behaviors appeared only in 2002. [9-11] The conclusions from these studies, while insightful, reflect the need for ongoing research into the daily practices of patients searching for web-based health care information. This poster highlights the first results of a systematic ethnographic study (interviews and shadow-searching carried out between November, 2001 and August, 2003) to determine how patients approach health care information when searching on the internet and illustrates the different strategies that patients use to assess the health information they encounter on the web.

Health Education↗