JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Wikipedia is one of the most consulted health resources in the world. Since the public is utilizing health information from Wikipedia to make healthcare decisions, then improving the quality of that health information is in the public interest. The openly editable content design of Wikipedia and the quality control processes in place provide an opportunity to add high-value, evidence-based information and take an active role in improving the health care information infrastructure.

Objective:

The aim of this project was to enhance Wikipedia health pages using high quality, current research findings and to track the persistence of those edits and number of page views after the changes to assess the reach of this initiative.

Methods:

We conducted Wikipedia Editathons with three different cohorts of Physical Therapy (PT) students to add high quality health information to existing Wikipedia pages. Students synthesized best evidence information, and updated and/or corrected existing Wikipedia entries on specific health pages. To evaluate the impact of these contributions, we examined two factors; a) response to our contributions from the Wikipedia editing community, including number and type of subsequent edits, as well as persistence of the student contributions and b) number of page views by the public from the time of the page edits.

Results:

Ninety-eight PT students in three different cohorts engaged in Editathons, editing 24 health pages. Of the 24 edits, 22 persisted at the end of the observation period (from time of entry to May 31, 2018) and received nearly 8 million page views. Each health page had an average of 354,724 page views.

Conclusions:

The Wikipedia Editathon is an effective way to continuously enhance the quality of health information available on Wikipedia. It is also an excellent way of bridging health technology with best-evidence medical facts, disseminating accurate, useful information to the public.