Quality of web based information on treatment of depression: cross sectional survey

doi:10.1136/bmj.321.7275.1511

BMJ 2000;321:1511-1515 ( 16 December )

Information in practice

Quality of web based information on treatment of depression: cross sectional survey

Kathleen M Griffiths, visiting fellow, Helen Christensen, senior fellow.

Centre for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University, Canberra 0200, Australia

Correspondence to: K M Griffiths kathy.griffiths{at}anu.edu.au

Objectives: To evaluate quality of web based informationon treatment of depression, to identify potential indicators ofcontent quality, and to establish if accountability criteria areindicators ofquality.
Design: Cross sectionalsurvey.
Data sources: 21 frequently accessed websites aboutdepression.
Main outcome measures: (i) Site characteristics; (ii) quality ofcontent $---$ concordance with evidence based depression guidelines(guideline score), appropriateness of other relevant site information(issues score), and subjective rating of site quality (globalscore); and (iii) accountability $---$ conformity with core accountabilitystandards (Silberg score) and quality of evidence cited in supportof conclusions (level of evidencescore).
Results: Although the sites contained useful information,their overall quality was poor: the mean guideline, issues, andglobal scores were only 4.7 (range 0-13) out of 43, 9.8 (6-14)out of 17, and 3 (0.5-7.5) out of 10 respectively. Sites typicallydid not cite scientific evidence in support of their conclusions.The guideline score correlated with the two other quality of contentmeasures, but none of the content measures correlated with theSilberg accountability score. Content quality was superior forsites owned by organisations and sites with an editorialboard.
Conclusions: There is a need for better evidence basedinformation about depression on the web, and a need to reconsiderthe role of accountability criteria as indicators of site qualityand to develop simple valid indicators of quality. Ownership byan organisation and the involvement of a professional editorialboard may be useful indicators. The study methodology may be usefulfor exploring these issues in other health relatedsubjects.

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