Development of a self-assessment method for patients to evaluate health information on the Internet.

For patients to make efficient use of the plethora of health information available on the Internet, they must be able to determine the quality and relevance of that information to their particular situation. Quality and relevance are conceptualized based on behavior and patterns of users on the web. The development and pilot-testing of a self-assessment method for patients to evaluate health care oriented websites are presented. The data analysis of the pilot-study suggests that the subjects perceived the method as helpful in evaluating quality and relevance of health information on the web.