Finding and Evaluating Online Resources

Have you ever wondered about the validity of the online medical information that you access? The number of Web sites offering health-related resources—including information about complementary health approaches (often called complementary and alternative medicine)—grows every day. Social media sites have also become an important source of online health information for some people. Many online health resources are useful, but others may present information that is inaccurate or misleading, so it’s important to find sources you can trust and to know how to evaluate their content. The following information provides help for finding reliable Web sites and outlines things to consider in evaluating health information from Web sites and social media sources.

Not all online health information is accurate. Be cautious. If you’re visiting a health Web site for the first time, these five quick questions can help you decide whether the site is a helpful resource.

Who? Who runs the Web site? Can you trust them?

What? What does the site say? Do its claims seem too good to be true?

When? When was the information posted or reviewed? Is it up-to-date?

Where? Where did the information come from? Is it based on scientific research?

Why? Why does the site exist? Is it selling something?

Don’t rely exclusively on online resources when making decisions about your health. If you’re considering a complementary health approach, discuss it with your health care provider. You can also find accurate health information quickly and easily if you start with one of these organized collections of high-quality, up-to-date resources:

• MedlinePlus, sponsored by the National Library of Medicine, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• healthfinder.gov, sponsored by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

If you’re specifically looking for information about complementary health approaches:

• You can use the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) Web site as a starting point. NCCIH is the Federal Government’s lead agency for scientific research on the diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that aren’t generally considered part of conventional medicine.

For additional information concerning evaluation of online resources contact the Extension office at 940/627-3341.