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Study on the quality of health information in online communities

User
Posted 08 Nov 2016 at 10:29

One of our Health Information Officers picked this up and we thought you all might be interested in it – researchers at Royal Holloway have just published a paper that looks at the quality of health information shared on online communities.

They looked at 25 threads about HIV, diabetes and chicken pox on reddit, mumsnet, and patient. The basic findings are that most information is good quality and extremely poor information is rare. 

https://www.jmir.org/2016/1/e4/

User
Posted 20 Oct 2023 at 08:24

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

One of our Health Information Officers picked this up and we thought you all might be interested in it – researchers at Royal Holloway have just published a paper that looks at the quality of health information shared on online communities.

They looked at 25 threads about HIV, diabetes and chicken pox on reddit, mumsnet, and patient. The basic findings are that most information is good quality and extremely poor information is rare. 

https://www.jmir.org/2016/1/e4/dordle 

The most information is of high quality, and instances of really low quality are uncommon.

User
Posted 20 Oct 2023 at 13:53

Information here seems to be very good. There are a good number of patients with high levels of detailed knowledge, and if something incorrect does get posted, it's quickly corrected in follow-up discussion. Also, thanks to moderators for pruning out the spam.

I have seen forums where quality of information is poor. That happens when there aren't any knowledgeable patients, unfounded claims go unchallenged, some people think they had the one and only good treatment option and so should everyone else, etc. Anyone dipping in to such a forum who knows the topic is likely to leave pretty smartly, so they tend not to get any better with the members sitting in their own confirmation bias bubble.

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User
Posted 20 Oct 2023 at 08:24

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

One of our Health Information Officers picked this up and we thought you all might be interested in it – researchers at Royal Holloway have just published a paper that looks at the quality of health information shared on online communities.

They looked at 25 threads about HIV, diabetes and chicken pox on reddit, mumsnet, and patient. The basic findings are that most information is good quality and extremely poor information is rare. 

https://www.jmir.org/2016/1/e4/dordle 

The most information is of high quality, and instances of really low quality are uncommon.

User
Posted 20 Oct 2023 at 13:53

Information here seems to be very good. There are a good number of patients with high levels of detailed knowledge, and if something incorrect does get posted, it's quickly corrected in follow-up discussion. Also, thanks to moderators for pruning out the spam.

I have seen forums where quality of information is poor. That happens when there aren't any knowledgeable patients, unfounded claims go unchallenged, some people think they had the one and only good treatment option and so should everyone else, etc. Anyone dipping in to such a forum who knows the topic is likely to leave pretty smartly, so they tend not to get any better with the members sitting in their own confirmation bias bubble.

 
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