JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The public perception of driving under the influence of cannabis (DUIC) is not consistent with current evidence. The internet is an influential source of information available for people to find information about cannabis.

Objective:

The purpose of this study was to assess the quality, readability, and accuracy of the information about DUIC found on the internet using the Google Canada search engine.

Methods:

A quantitative content analysis of the top Google search web pages was conducted to analyze the information available to the public about DUIC. Google searches were performed using keywords and the first 20 pages were selected. Webpages or online resources were eligible if they had text on cannabis and driving in English. We assessed 1) the quality of information using the Quality Evaluation Scoring Tool (QUEST) and the presence of the Health on the Net (HON) code, 2) the readability using the Gunning Fox Index (GFI), Flesch Reading Ease Scale (FRES), Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL), and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) scores, and 3) the accuracy of information pertaining to the effects of cannabis consumption, prevalence of DUIC, DUIC effects on driving ability, risk of collision, and detection by law enforcement, we evaluated using an adapted version of the 5Cs website evaluation tool.

Results:

82 were included in the data analysis. The average QUEST score was 17.4 out of 28 (SD=5.6). The average readability scores were 9.7 (SD=2.3) for FKGL, 11.4 (SD=2.9) for GFI, 12.2 (SD=1.9) for SMOG index, and 49.9 (SD=12.3) for FRES. The readability scores demonstrated that 9.8 to 19.5% of webpages were considered readable by the public. The accuracy results showed that of the webpages that presented information on each key topic: 96% of web pages were accurate about the effects of cannabis consumption, 97% of web pages were accurate about the prevalence of DUIC, 92% of web pages were accurate about the DUIC effects on driving ability, 80% of web pages were accurate about the risk of collision, and 71% of web pages were accurate about the detection by law enforcement.

Conclusions:

Health organizations should consider health literacy of the public when creating content to help prevent misinterpretation, and perpetuate prevailing misperceptions surrounding DUIC. Delivering high quality, readable, and accurate information in a way that is comprehensible to the public is needed to support informed decision making.