Web based health information analysis

Web Based Health Information Analysis Affiliation: Evaluate a self-selected web site following the HON criteria (Health on the Net).
The website under discussion is the Epilepsy Foundation (http://www. epilepsyfoundation. org/) which is a health website with a lot of information about epilepsy. The information includes facts about epilepsy, testimonials from individuals living with epilepsy and families of individuals living with epilepsy, how one can get involved in this this website through donation and research among other issues. Under the Health on the Net (HON) code of conduct, there are four specified criteria that a health website has to meet in order for it to be considered credible for other individuals who depend on the internet to get their health information. The HON criteria include privacy, transparency, attribution and authority (http://www. hon. ch/HONcode/Conduct. html).
Provide a comprehensive review of each criteria and whether or not the health information web site meets the criteria or not.
This health website has no privacy because anyone can easily access it including young children and this is against the HON criteria as it is risky for underage children without proper preparation. The site hides no information from the general public and hence can be considered to be transparent in its own way and according to the criteria set by HON. As far as the website is concerned, there is no attribution whatsoever and thus the credentials of the website are questionable. It has many followers because it is easily accessible and hence has a bit of authority as far as online health information is concerned.
This website therefore has not fulfilled all the criterion requirements that are stipulated by HON’s code of conduct for health websites and therefore something should be done about that because it is not helpful to the public who do not have any idea whether the website meets the criteria or not (Larson, 2011).
Conclude whether or not the website would be included in their patient teaching as an additional resource for the patient/family.
Even though this epilepsy website does not fulfill all the stipulated criteria of HON, the much it has not fulfilled can be worked on quickly and hence have it included in the patient teaching program as a resource since this website compared to other epilepsy website contains much more information and fulfills most of the criteria put out by HON to health websites (Cullen, 2006).
The inclusion in the patient teaching program will however depend on the website owners and whether or not they are willing to fulfill the unfulfilled HON criteria and do it as soon as possible. If they agree, then it can be included but if they don’t, then doubts will be raised whether it really qualifies or not.
References
Cullen, R. (2006). Health Information on the Internet: A Study of Providers, Quality, and Users. California: Greenwood Publishing Group.
http://www. epilepsyfoundation. org/
http://www. hon. ch/HONcode/Conduct. html
Larson. (2011). Consumer Health: Spectrom of Choices. New Jersey: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.