TY - JOUR
T1 - An evaluation of the content and quality of tinnitus information on websites preferred by General Practitioners
AU - Fackrell, Kathryn
AU - Hoare, Derek J.
AU - Smith, Sandra
AU - McCormack, Abby
AU - Hall, Deborah A.
N1 - Funding Information:
KF was supported by a summer studentship from Action on Hearing loss. DJH, SS, AM, and DAH are funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Unit Programme. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. Thanks to Caroline Hartley and Dr Melanie Cheung for assisting us in accessing doctors.net and in providing further clinical perspectives when revising our manuscript.
PY - 2012/7/12
Y1 - 2012/7/12
N2 - Background: Tinnitus is a prevalent and complex medical complaint often co-morbid with stress, anxiety, insomnia, depression, and cognitive or communication difficulties. Its chronicity places a major burden on primary and secondary healthcare services. In our recent national survey of General Practitioners (GPs) from across England, many reported that their awareness of tinnitus was limited and as a result were dissatisfied with the service they currently provide. GPs identified 10 online sources of information they currently use in clinical practice, but welcomed further concise and accurate information on tinnitus assessment and management. The purpose of this study was to assess the content, reliability, and quality of the information related to primary care tinnitus assessment and management on these 10 websites. Methods: Tinnitus related content on each website was assessed using a summative content analysis approach. Reliability and quality of the information was assessed using the DISCERN questionnaire. Results: Quality of information was rated using the validated DISCERN questionnaire. Significant inter-rater reliability was confirmed by Kendalls coefficient of concordance (Wt) which ranged from 0.48 to 0.92 across websites. The website Map of Medicine achieved the highest overall DISCERN score. However, for information on treatment choice, the British Tinnitus Association was rated best. Content analysis revealed that all websites lacked a number of details relating to either tinnitus assessment or management options. Conclusions: No single website provides comprehensive information for GPs on tinnitus assessment and management and so GPs may need to refer to more than one if they want to maximise their coverage of the topic. From those preferred by GPs we recommend several specific websites as the current best sources. Our findings should guide healthcare website providers to improve the quality and inclusiveness of the information they publish on tinnitus. In the case of one website, our preliminary findings are already doing so. Such developments will in turn help facilitate best practice in primary care.
AB - Background: Tinnitus is a prevalent and complex medical complaint often co-morbid with stress, anxiety, insomnia, depression, and cognitive or communication difficulties. Its chronicity places a major burden on primary and secondary healthcare services. In our recent national survey of General Practitioners (GPs) from across England, many reported that their awareness of tinnitus was limited and as a result were dissatisfied with the service they currently provide. GPs identified 10 online sources of information they currently use in clinical practice, but welcomed further concise and accurate information on tinnitus assessment and management. The purpose of this study was to assess the content, reliability, and quality of the information related to primary care tinnitus assessment and management on these 10 websites. Methods: Tinnitus related content on each website was assessed using a summative content analysis approach. Reliability and quality of the information was assessed using the DISCERN questionnaire. Results: Quality of information was rated using the validated DISCERN questionnaire. Significant inter-rater reliability was confirmed by Kendalls coefficient of concordance (Wt) which ranged from 0.48 to 0.92 across websites. The website Map of Medicine achieved the highest overall DISCERN score. However, for information on treatment choice, the British Tinnitus Association was rated best. Content analysis revealed that all websites lacked a number of details relating to either tinnitus assessment or management options. Conclusions: No single website provides comprehensive information for GPs on tinnitus assessment and management and so GPs may need to refer to more than one if they want to maximise their coverage of the topic. From those preferred by GPs we recommend several specific websites as the current best sources. Our findings should guide healthcare website providers to improve the quality and inclusiveness of the information they publish on tinnitus. In the case of one website, our preliminary findings are already doing so. Such developments will in turn help facilitate best practice in primary care.
KW - Education
KW - Good practice guidelines
KW - Tinnitus management
KW - World wide web
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84863676953&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/1472-6947-12-70
DO - 10.1186/1472-6947-12-70
M3 - Article
C2 - 22788751
AN - SCOPUS:84863676953
SN - 1472-6947
VL - 12
JO - BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making
JF - BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making
M1 - 70
ER -
