ArticleJournal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA2021
Health websites on COVID-19: are they readable and credible enough to help public self-care?
Article in Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Readability of Online Patient Education Materials for Myopia Management.Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) · 2026Article
- The good, the bad, and the ugly: A qualitative evaluation of web-based COVID-19 vaccine communication in Canada.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025Article
- Digital health literacy and trust in health information sources: A comparative study of university students in Japan, the United States, and India.SSM - population health · 2025Article
- Internet as a Source of Public Health Information on Acupuncture for Pain Relief: Credibility Assessment and Readability Analysis.Medical acupuncture · 2024Article
- Evaluating understandability and actionability of online education materials for home-care patients with COVID-19 in Japan.BMC research notes · 2023Article
- Lessons to Build an Educational Model for Higher Education Institutions Defined as Anchor Institutions to Tackle Public Health Crises: A Pilot Study on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among Faculty and Students in Hebert L. College in the Bronx, NY.Journal of Hispanic higher education · 2023Article
- A comprehensive analysis of the readability of consent forms for blood transfusion in Spain.Blood transfusion = Trasfusione del sangue · 2023Article
- Navigating a Pandemic: A Qualitative Study of Knowledge, Sources of Information, and COVID-19-Related Precautions Taken by HBCU Students.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2023Article
- An analysis of COVID-19 information sources.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2022Article
- Readability, understandability and language accessibility of Swedish websites about the coronavirus disease 2019: a cross-sectional study.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2022Article
- Readability of Korean-Language COVID-19 Information from the South Korean National COVID-19 Portal Intended for the General Public: Cross-sectional Infodemiology Study.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
- Assessing COVID-19 Health Information on Google Using the Quality Evaluation Scoring Tool (QUEST): Cross-sectional and Readability Analysis.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
- Access to Epidemic Information and Life Satisfaction under the Period of COVID-19: the Mediating Role of Perceived Stress and the Moderating Role of Friendship Quality.Applied research in quality of life · 2022Article
- Developing Pathways to Health Sciences Librarianship with an Introductory Course and Mentoring Program.The Reference librarian · 2022Article
- Article
- Improving COVID-19 vaccine-related health literacy and vaccine uptake in patients: Comparison on the readability of patient information leaflets of approved COVID-19 vaccines.Journal of clinical pharmacy and therapeutics · 2021Review
- Declines in health literacy and health-related quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal study of the Japanese general population.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Classifications, Changes, and Challenges of Online Health Information Seekers during COVID-19.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Positive Information of COVID-19 and Anxiety: A Moderated Mediation Model of Risk Perception and Intolerance of Uncertainty.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Readability of COVID-19 health science information on the official websites of 27 Provincial Health Commissions in China.Digital healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThere are concerns about nonscientific and/or unclear information on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that is available on the Internet. Furthermore, people's ability to understand health information varies and depends on their skills in reading and interpreting information. This study aims to evaluate the readability and creditability of websites with COVID-19-related information.
methodsThe search terms "coronavirus," "COVID," and "COVID-19" were input into Google. The websites of the first thirty results for each search term were evaluated in terms of their credibility and readability using the Health On the Net Foundation code of conduct (HONcode) and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL), Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG), Gunning Fog, and Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRE) scales, respectively.
resultsThe readability of COVID-19-related health information on websites was suitable for high school graduates or college students and, thus, was far above the recommended readability level. Most websites that were examined (87.2%) had not been officially certified by HONcode. There was no significant difference in the readability scores of websites with and without HONcode certification.
conclusionThese results suggest that organizations should improve the readability of their websites and provide information that more people can understand. This could lead to greater health literacy, less health anxiety, and the provision of better preventive information about the disease.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.