The readabılıty and qualıty of onlıne health ınformatıon on plantar fascııtıs

Abstract

Objective: The quality and readability of internet resources about a common disease gain importance as a research topic. This study aims to quantitatively evaluate the quality and readability of the freely available online health information on plantar fasciitis. Method: Google search engine was used to search the “plantar fasciitis” term and the first 200 websites evaluated. The quality of the information on the websites was assessed using the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) score and the Health On the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONcode) certification. The readability of the online content was evaluated by two separate scores: The Flesch-Kincaid (FK) grade level and the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG). Results: A total of 162 websites were evaluated. The FK and SMOG level of websites were 7.06±1.8 and 6.65±1.4, respectively. The JAMA Score was 2.21±1.2. Only 27 (16.7%) of the websites had a HONcode, whereas 135 (83.3%) did not. Commercial and Professional websites were found the lowest credible source. Conclusion: The online information about plantar fasciitis is variable and poor quality. We believe that the highest quality content can be found on health portals. Patients should be careful when reading information about plantar fasciitis from commercial websites.