TY - JOUR
T1 - COVID-19 pandemic information on Brazilian websites
T2 - Credibility, coverage, and agreement with World Health Organization. Quality of COVID-19 online information in Brazil
AU - Sousa Filho, Luis Fernando
AU - Barbosa Santos, Marta Maria
AU - da Silva Júnior, Walderi Monteiro
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Associacao Medica Brasileira. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/7/9
Y1 - 2021/7/9
N2 - OBJECTIVE: To assess the credibility and the quality content of COVID-19 pandemic information on Brazilian websites. METHODS: We performed Google searches and screened the first 45 websites. The websites were categorized as academic, commercial, government, hospital, media, nongovernmental organizations, and professionals. The credibility was assessed by JAMA benchmark criteria and HONCODE. A checklist with WHO information about COVID-19 was developed to assess the quality content. For each website, the level of agreement with WHO information was categorized into “total,” “partial,” or “disagreement”. RESULTS: A total of 20 websites were analyzed. None of the websites had HONCODE certification. Six websites (30%) met none of the four JAMA criteria and only one website (5%) fulfilled all the four criteria. Only 11 out of 20 websites showed overall coverage >50% for the checklist. Overall, 70% (14/20) of the websites had at least 50% total agreement with WHO items. The government websites presented more disagreement with the WHO items than media websites in the overall quality content analysis. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 information on Brazilian websites have a moderate-to-low credibility and quality, particularly on the government websites.
AB - OBJECTIVE: To assess the credibility and the quality content of COVID-19 pandemic information on Brazilian websites. METHODS: We performed Google searches and screened the first 45 websites. The websites were categorized as academic, commercial, government, hospital, media, nongovernmental organizations, and professionals. The credibility was assessed by JAMA benchmark criteria and HONCODE. A checklist with WHO information about COVID-19 was developed to assess the quality content. For each website, the level of agreement with WHO information was categorized into “total,” “partial,” or “disagreement”. RESULTS: A total of 20 websites were analyzed. None of the websites had HONCODE certification. Six websites (30%) met none of the four JAMA criteria and only one website (5%) fulfilled all the four criteria. Only 11 out of 20 websites showed overall coverage >50% for the checklist. Overall, 70% (14/20) of the websites had at least 50% total agreement with WHO items. The government websites presented more disagreement with the WHO items than media websites in the overall quality content analysis. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 information on Brazilian websites have a moderate-to-low credibility and quality, particularly on the government websites.
KW - Coronavirus Infections
KW - Health Information Systems
KW - Internet
KW - Pandemics
KW - World Health Organization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85113833354&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1590/1806-9282.67.SUPPL1.20200721
DO - 10.1590/1806-9282.67.SUPPL1.20200721
M3 - Article
C2 - 34259766
AN - SCOPUS:85113833354
SN - 0104-4230
VL - 67
SP - 57
EP - 62
JO - Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira
JF - Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira
IS - Suppl 1
ER -