How good is online information on fibromyalgia? An analysis of quality and readability of websites on fibromyalgia in Spanish

ObjectiveTo assess the content, quality and readability of websites with information on fibromyalgia in Spanish.MethodsWebsites were retrieved entering the keyword ‘fibromyalgia’ in Google, Yahoo! and Bing, and by searching records of patients associations in Spain and Latin America. The Bermúdez-Ta...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMJ open 2020-07, Vol.10 (7), p.e037065-e037065
Main Authors: Alioshkin Cheneguin, Arturo, Salvat Salvat, Isabel, Romay Barrero, Helena, Torres Lacomba, María
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chicago
Comprehension
Consumer Health Information
Decision making
Education
Fibromyalgia
health informatics
Humans
Information sources
Internet
medical education & training
Medical research
Pain
Questionnaires
rehabilitation medicine
Reproducibility of Results
Researchers
Rheumatology
Search engines
Spain
Trends
Websites
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Summary:ObjectiveTo assess the content, quality and readability of websites with information on fibromyalgia in Spanish.MethodsWebsites were retrieved entering the keyword ‘fibromyalgia’ in Google, Yahoo! and Bing, and by searching records of patients associations in Spain and Latin America. The Bermúdez-Tamayo and DISCERN questionnaires were employed for evaluating quality and content, and INFLESZ for readability. Statistical analysis was conducted using IBM SPSSV.24 (Chicago, USA).ResultsThree hundred and five websites were found. After applying the exclusion criteria, 73 websites were analysed. Websites retrieved by search engines obtained median scores of 27.0 (interquartile interval (IQI): 24.5–32.0) with DISCERN, 35.0 (IQI: 31.0–40.5) with Bermúdez-Tamayo and 53.7 (IQI: 47.4–56.2) with INFLESZ, whereas those from patients associations scored 21.0 (IQI: 19.2–23.8), 26.0 (IQI: 25.0–31.0) and 51.7 (IQI: 47.9–55.1), respectively. In general, content was not up-to-date.ConclusionsOverall quality was medium-low, content quality was very low and readability was poor. Further effort is needed to guarantee meeting quality criteria and accessing updated, relevant, and legible information.This study exposes the quality and readability of websites on fibromyalgia in Spanish, which can help healthcare workers to better appraise this resource and its potential influence on the development of the pathology.
ISSN:2044-6055
2044-6055
DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037065