QUALITY AND READIBILITY OF TURKISH-LANGUAGE INTERNET INFORMATİON ABOUT VERTIGO

Materials and Method: The most frequently used three keywords related to vertigo ( dizziness, vertigo, vestibular disorders) were searched by the Google search engine and the top 30 websites for every keyword were examined. Total of 79 websites were divided into 4 groups according to authors: doctor, news, health-related and personal websites. The quality of websites was evaluated using the DISCERN instrument. The readability levels were also revealed by the Ateşman and Çetinkaya-Uzun readability formulas.

Results: The average readability score of all websites according to Ateşman was 69.48±8.84, medium difficulty. According to the Çetinkaya-Uzun readability formula, the readability scores of all websites vary between 50.8 and 64, with an average of 57.21±2.62 points, and the education level is at the 5-6th and 7th grade levels. No statistically significant difference was found between the readability levels of Ateşman and Çetinkaya-Uzun according to the websites (p>0.05). The total DISCERN score was found to be 2.02±0.34 on average and was intermediate level.

Conclusion: According to the results of our study, the average DISCERN score was determined as 2.02 (2-4 intermediate level). The titles with the lowest scores according to the DISCERN scale should be added to the existing information by ensuring that the websites are updated frequently. While preparing health-related websites, care should be taken to ensure that the language is understandable and written in a way that the patients can understand. Keywords : Health information quality, internet health information, readability, vertigo