What makes online health information credible for older adults?

Abstract

This paper reports on an exploratory study aimed to collect preliminary data on the credibility assessment of health-related online resources by older adults (OAs), which then would be used to develop a populationspecific survey instrument and controlled experiments. The paper defines a methodology and reports on preliminary findings on how credibility markers (i.e., cues) play a positive or negative role in OAs' credibility assessment of health-related websites. Nineteen participants in the semi-structured interviews seemed to perceive health-related websites as most credible when they provided unbiased information, whereas most of the participants showed strong hostilities to advertisements on the websites. The paper also outlines future research directions.

Web credibility assessment: Conceptualization, operationalization, variability, and models

“…In other words, a high level of website design may or may not increase the overall credibility of a health‐related website, but poor surface credibility significantly decreased the overall credibility of a website. Participants in Choi's () study highlighted that the “prettiness” of a website (i.e., aesthetic design) was not important when they judged the credibility of a website providing health‐related information, although the website was seen as less professional if it had typographical errors. Westerwick () also showed that credibility perceptions could not be enhanced by more appealing website design when the site had lower source credibility; instead, higher source credibility increased users' ratings of the website's design appeal.…”

“…In particular, it examines the website's URL—whether it ends with .com, .gov, .org, or .edu; advertisements on the website; whether it has pop‐up windows with ads; whether it requires paid subscription to gain access (Fogg et al., ). Using these measures, Choi () found that people tend to perceive noncommercial sites as more credible than commercial ones for health information because they do not provide information to make a profit for themselves. When people see ads on health‐related websites, they perceive the websites as trying to sell something, rather than providing the public with useful information.…”

“…In terms of health‐related topics, users tend to perceive a website as most credible when it provides both pros and cons on the given topic or issue (e.g., medication, side effects) because the site is viewed as attempting to provide “neutral/unbiased information” on the given topic (Choi, ). Neutrality also seems to be an important marker/cue for judging the trustworthiness of user‐generated content, such as Wikipedia articles, social Q&A sites, blogs, and online discussion forums.…”

Older adultsʼ credibility assessment of online health information: An exploratory study using an extended typology of web credibility

“…These questions were intended to encourage participants to talk freely about what makes them perceive certain online health information as credible. Then they were asked to answer Likert scale-based questions, which listed varied types of credibility cues and heuristics selected from past research (e.g., the authorʼs credential for an article, typographic errors, broken links, contact information; Choi, 2013;Fogg et al, 2001Fogg et al, , 2003. The Likert-type questions followed the open-ended questions to help participants discuss the cues and heuristics that they might not otherwise think of.…”

How Users' Gaze Behavior Is Related to Their Quality Evaluation of a Health Website Based on HONcode Principles?

“…The website contact information should be transparent for visitors to seek further information or support and the owner of the website should be disclosed. If advertising is a source of funding, it will be presented to viewers in a manner and context that facilitates differentiation between it and the original material created by the site (Choi, 2013). To sum up, Table 2 lists the number of AOIs, page components, and snapshots in each AOIs group.…”