Review, 2016
Is the PMDD information available online high quality?
Much of the PMDD information available on websites is poor quality, particularly the condition-specific content. Women should be careful about which websites they trust for health information.
What they did
Researchers searched three search engines (Google, Yahoo, and Bing) for PMDD information, examined the first 50 results from each, removed duplicate sites, and reviewed 69 unique websites. They evaluated the overall quality of each website and how good the condition-specific PMDD information was.
What they found
The websites varied widely in quality and ownership, mostly from web providers, U.S. healthcare providers, and media companies. General quality such as design was modest, but the quality of PMDD-specific information was far poorer.
What it means for you
Women searching for PMDD information online are likely to find much poor quality information. Healthcare professionals and website creators should work to improve the available resources. This is a review of websites, not a clinical study, so it reflects what was available at the time the research was done.
69
unique websites reviewed
About the study
- Original title
- What Are Women Being Exposed to? A Review of the Quality, Content and Ownership of Websites on Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
- Authors
- Hardy C, Sillence E
- Journal
- Women's health issues : official publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health
- Year
- 2016
- Study design
- Review
- What was tested
- Not applicable (website quality review)
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2015.11.007
Topics
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