DR GOOGLE: QUALITY AND READABILITY OF ONLINE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON WEBSITES ABOUT EXERCISE FOR NECK PAIN MANAGEMENT

S. Shah¹, R. Patel¹, V. Patel¹, R. Patel¹, D. Patel¹, V Prakash¹

¹Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT), Ashok & Rita Patel Institute of Physiotherapy, Anand, Gujarat, India

Background: Increasingly, the Internet is becoming one of the most important sources of health-related information for the public, allowing patients to find information regarding their conditions. Several previous studies demonstrated that a growing number of patients are obtaining health-related information online. Websites provide access to information easily and conveniently, but there are no mechanisms to ensure its accuracy and quality. This raises concerns about the information provided by websites.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the quality and readability of online information about exercises for neck pain management available on websites.

Methods: A descriptive study was conducted. The search terms 'neck exercise', 'neck pain exercise', and 'neck pain physiotherapy' were entered into popular search engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing) on 14th November 2022. The URLs of the first 200 websites were recorded in the search results. Websites were classified into eight categories (commercial, government, health portal, news, non-profit, professional, scientific journal, and others). The readability of each website was calculated using the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease Score (FRES), Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Score (FKGL), Gunning-Fog Score, Coleman-Liau Index, SMOG-index and Automated Readability Index. Quality of each website were evaluated using the DISCERN, Global Quality Score (GQS) and Journal of American Medical Association benchmark criteria (JAMA). The correlation between quality and readability was assessed using the Pearson correlation coefficient.

Results: A wide range of quality was found in the online information regarding neck pain exercises. The majority of 78 unique websites analyzed were of ‘very poor’/’poor’ quality determined via the DISCERN (56%) and GQS (59%) instrument. JAMA benchmark criteria were not met by any of the websites included. HON certification was not available on the majority of websites. The readability of the text was often higher than the Indian average (5th grade) and was rated ‘very difficult’ or ‘too complex’. The mean readability scores across all websites were 51(FRES), 11(FKGL), 29(Gunning-Fog), 25(SMOG), 11(CL-index) and 9(AR index) which correspond to a university graduate grade reading level. No significant correlation observed between quality and readability.

Conclusions: The quality and ease of reading of much of the online information about neck pain exercise are poor.

Implications: This study’s findings can be used to develop guidelines and strategies to improve the quality of information about neck pain available on websites. As a result, patients can access accurate, comprehensive, and easy-to-understand information to meet their needs more effectively.

Funding acknowledgements: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency.

Keywords:
Online information
Neck pain
Exercises

Topics:
Education
Musculoskeletal: spine
Professional practice: other

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT)

Committee: Institutional Ethics Committee-CHARUSAT

Ethics number: IEC/CHARUSAT/EX/22/27