BMJ  2006;332 (22 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7547.0-d

Online cancer support groups can police themselves

Amid concerns about the quality of health information on the internet, most postings to an online breast cancer support group are accurate, and misleading postings are usually corrected by subsequent participants. Esquivel and colleagues (p 939) analysed the postings on an unmoderated email list for breast cancer patients and their families over four months in 2005. A mere 0.25% were misleading or false, and most were corrected by participants within four hours. The authors conclude that, given a sufficiently active forum, participants can identify and correct most false or misleading statements quickly and reliably without requiring professional review.

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Accuracy and self correction of information received from an internet breast cancer list: content analysis

Adol Esquivel, Funda Meric-Bernstam, and Elmer V Bernstam
BMJ 2006 332: 939-942. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]