Which Consumer Health Information Websites Appear Most Often in Google, and How Reliable Are They? An Analysis Using DISCERN, CRAAP, and HONcode

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

2:45 PM – 3:00 PM CT

Presenter and Author(s)

Scott Y. Johnson, AHIP

Director of Library Services
M.B. Ketchum Memorial Library
Diamond Bar, California

Slides

Author(s)

Catherine V. Johnson, MLIS

Research and Instruction Librarian
Wilson Library
La Verne, California
Ivan A. Portillo, AHIP

Coordinator of Rinker Campus Library Services
Chapman University
Irvine, California

Objectives: Online health misinformation is a growing problem, and health information professionals and consumers would benefit from an evaluation of health websites for reliability and trustworthiness. An analysis of consumer health information websites was performed to determine the most reliable source of information.

Methods: To replicate common health information searches, a list of 65 search terms was gathered from the COVID-19 Search Trends symptoms
dataset. These search terms, taken from a dataset of several hundred symptoms, were chosen to generate a representative sample of health-related search terms that a health consumer may search for on Google. The quality of the resulting top five websites was evaluated independently by two authors using the DISCERN instrument and CRAAP test. For the DISCERN instrument, each website was evaluated against the sixteen questions from the DISCERN Instrument. For the CRAAP test, the two authors independently evaluated each website based on five CRAAP criteria. The top five resulting websites were also reviewed for HONcode certification.

Results: The top five websites that appeared most frequently were WebMD, Mayo Clinic, Healthline, MedlinePlus, and Medical News Today, respectively. All websites, except Medline Plus, received HONcode certification. Based on DISCERN and CRAAP scores, MedlinePlus was found to be the most reliable
health website, followed by Mayo Clinic, WebMD, Healthline, and Medical News Today.

Conclusions: This study aimed to evaluate the quality of top-ranking health websites in Google’s search results using the DISCERN instrument and CRAAP
(Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose) test. The results of the study revealed that MedlinePlus was the most reliable and trustworthy website based on its DISCERN and CRAAP scores. Although MedlinePlus was the highest scoring website, three other websites appeared more frequently in Google’s search results. Health information professionals and those in the healthcare field may recommend MedlinePlus as the most reliable consumer health information website that frequently appears on Google.