Web-information surrounding complementary and alternative medicine for low back pain: a cross-sectional survey and quality assessment.
Complementary and alternative medicine
Consumer health information
DISCERN
Low back pain
Quality of information
Journal
Integrative medicine research
ISSN: 2213-4220
Titre abrégé: Integr Med Res
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 101612707
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Sep 2021
Sep 2021
Historique:
received:
09
09
2020
revised:
05
11
2020
accepted:
09
11
2020
entrez:
5
3
2021
pubmed:
6
3
2021
medline:
6
3
2021
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Low back pain (LBP) is expected to globally affect up to 80% of individuals at some point during their lifetime. While conventional LBP therapies are effective, they may result in adverse side-effects. It is thus common for patients to seek information about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) online to either supplement or even replace their conventional LBP care. The present study sought to assess the quality of web-based consumer health information available at the intersection of LBP and CAM. We searched Google using six unique search terms across four English-speaking countries. Eligible websites contained consumer health information in the context of CAM for LBP. We used the DISCERN instrument, which consists of a standardized scoring system with a Likert scale from one to five across 16 questions, to conduct a quality assessment of websites. Across 480 websites identified, 32 were deemed eligible and assessed using the DISCERN instrument. The mean overall rating across all websites 3.47 (SD = 0.70); Summed DISCERN scores across all websites ranged from 25.5-68.0, with a mean of 53.25 (SD = 10.41); the mean overall rating across all websites 3.47 (SD = 0.70). Most websites reported the benefits of numerous CAM treatment options and provided relevant information for the target audience clearly, but did not adequately report the risks or adverse side-effects adequately. Despite some high-quality resources identified, our findings highlight the varying quality of consumer health information available online at the intersection of LBP and CAM. Healthcare providers should be involved in the guidance of patients' online information-seeking.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Low back pain (LBP) is expected to globally affect up to 80% of individuals at some point during their lifetime. While conventional LBP therapies are effective, they may result in adverse side-effects. It is thus common for patients to seek information about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) online to either supplement or even replace their conventional LBP care. The present study sought to assess the quality of web-based consumer health information available at the intersection of LBP and CAM.
METHODS
METHODS
We searched Google using six unique search terms across four English-speaking countries. Eligible websites contained consumer health information in the context of CAM for LBP. We used the DISCERN instrument, which consists of a standardized scoring system with a Likert scale from one to five across 16 questions, to conduct a quality assessment of websites.
RESULTS
RESULTS
Across 480 websites identified, 32 were deemed eligible and assessed using the DISCERN instrument. The mean overall rating across all websites 3.47 (SD = 0.70); Summed DISCERN scores across all websites ranged from 25.5-68.0, with a mean of 53.25 (SD = 10.41); the mean overall rating across all websites 3.47 (SD = 0.70). Most websites reported the benefits of numerous CAM treatment options and provided relevant information for the target audience clearly, but did not adequately report the risks or adverse side-effects adequately.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSIONS
Despite some high-quality resources identified, our findings highlight the varying quality of consumer health information available online at the intersection of LBP and CAM. Healthcare providers should be involved in the guidance of patients' online information-seeking.
Identifiants
pubmed: 33665090
doi: 10.1016/j.imr.2020.100692
pii: S2213-4220(20)30329-2
pmc: PMC7903052
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Pagination
100692Informations de copyright
© 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine.
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