More than just “Googling the symptoms”

Students do not take recommendations from members of social media communities into account when judging the trustworthiness of online health information, according to a new research project at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Professor Jennifer Rowley, from the University’s Information Interactions Research Group, said: “The process through which people evaluate information online is very complex, and we have found that they use a variety of different factors including presentation and writing style – it’s more difficult than simply ‘Googling the symptoms!’”

“One interesting thing we found was that recommendations from members of social media communities did not influence their evaluation of the information, rather they sought to judge reliability, accuracy, information quality, and the usefulness of the information in helping them to understand a health issue.”

Researchers are looking at how students decide which online health information they can trust.

Evaluating digital information

Since young people are one of the most active groups of Internet users, and many report using the Internet as one of their sources of information, it is important to understand how they evaluate the information that they find.

The work, which was published in the Health Informatics Journal, is part of a wider project into how people evaluate digital information.

The research is aimed at helping health practitioners and health website designers improve the way they deliver information, and to find ways to offer young people authoritative and useful health information. The team are keen to have further conversations with providers of health information and other organisations, with a view to collaborations on to further research in this area.

Prof Rowley said: “The fact that the process is complex means it is difficult for a lot of people to make those judgements, especially when faced with a new health challenge.”

Gender and health information

The Information Interactions Research Group comprises Professor Jennifer Rowley, Dr Frances Johnson and Dr Laura Sbaffi. The full paper can be read online at Sage.

Other work in progress is examining the effect of gender on online health information behaviour, including how people make judgements of trustworthiness.