Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Jan 6, 2022
Open Peer Review Period: Jan 4, 2022 - Mar 1, 2022
Date Accepted: May 4, 2022
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
An examination of the quality of late-life depression websites on the Internet
ABSTRACT
Background:
The Internet can increase the accessibility of mental health information and improve the mental health literacy of older adults. The quality of mental health information on the Internet can be inaccurate or biased, leading to misinformation
Objective:
This study’s objectives were to evaluate the quality, usability, and readability of websites providing information concerning depression in later life.
Methods:
Websites were identified through a Google search, and evaluated by assessing quality (DISCERN), usability (Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool; PEMAT) and readability (Simple Measure of Gobbledygook; SMOG).
Results:
The overall quality of late-life depression websites (N = 19) was moderate, usability was low, and readability was poor. No significant relationship was found between quality and readability of websites.
Conclusions:
Websites can be improved by enhancing information quality, usability, and readability related to late-life depression. The use of high-quality websites may improve mental health literacy and shared treatment decision-making for older adults.
Citation
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.