Comparing the quality of pro- and anti-vaccination online information: a content analysis of vaccination-related webpages

BMC Public Health
Gabriele SakPeter J Schulz

Abstract

The exponential increase in health-related online platforms has made the Internet one of the main sources of health information globally. The quality of health contents disseminated on the Internet has been a central focus for many researchers. To date, however, few comparative content analyses of pro- and anti-vaccination websites have been conducted, and none of them compared the quality of information. The main objective of this study was therefore to bring new evidence on this aspect by comparing the quality of pro- and anti-vaccination online sources. Based on past literature and health information quality evaluation initiatives, a 40-categories assessment tool (Online Vaccination Information Quality Codebook) was developed and used to code a sample of 1093 webpages retrieved via Google and two filtered versions of the same search engine. The categories investigated were grouped into four main quality dimensions: web-related design quality criteria (10 categories), health-specific design quality criteria (3 categories), health related content attributes (12 categories) and vaccination-specific content attributes (15 categories). Data analysis comprised frequency counts, cross tabulations, Pearson's chi-square, and other in...Continue Reading

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Citations

Apr 12, 2018·Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics·Francesco NapolitanoItalo Francesco Angelillo
Mar 28, 2018·Health Promotion International·Tsuyoshi OkuharaTakahiro Kiuchi
Jun 20, 2019·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Francesco NapolitanoItalo Francesco Angelillo
Jun 21, 2019·Health Education & Behavior : the Official Publication of the Society for Public Health Education·Zhan XuLaura R Umphrey
Feb 23, 2020·BMC Public Health·Annamaria PorrecaMarta Di Nicola

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