Researching your health online has become a routine behaviour for many. According to a report published in 2019 by the Office for National Statistics, adults looking for health-related information on the internet has increased, from 54% in 2018 to 63% in 2019.
It’s difficult to tell patients not to look online to educate themselves about their health. Why not arm them with some tools to judge whether the resource they are looking at is a good one?
This 5 minute video outlines the CRAP test, a useful tool to evaluate the site you are looking at.
Currency
Is the resource from an appropriate time?
- When was it originally published?
- Has it been updated or revised since then?
- Does the time frame fit your needs?
Reliability
Can you depend on the information and trust it to be accurate?
- Did the author use any evidence, and show their sources with citations and references, or list of sources?
- Is the spelling and grammar correct?
- Can you verify the information through other sources?
Authority
Can you trust the source the information comes from?
- Who is the author, and what are their credentials?
- Who is the publisher or sponsor?
- What does the URL end with?
|
.ac.uk |
A UK university |
|
.gov.uk |
The UK government |
|
.nhs.uk |
The NHS |
|
.com or .co.uk |
A commercial organisation. These websites may intend to sell you products rather than provide unbiased information. |
|
.org |
Mainly used by non-profit organisations |
|
.edu |
An American university |
Purpose/Point of View
What is the author's motivation for publishing the resource?
- Is the author trying to inform, persuade, sell to, or entertain you?
- Are there advertisements or links to buy things? If so, are they marked clearly or sponsored by the resource?
- Does the author seem objective or biased? Do they name any affiliations or conflicts of interest?
General health information resources
- Health Talk: on healthtalk.org you can find out about what it’s like to live with a health condition, by watching other people share their stories: https://www.healthtalk.org/
- Spark & Co lists health and wellbeing resources specifically for BAME communities: https://sparkandco.co.uk/resources/health-wellbeing
- EasyHealth has more than 500 leaflets designed to be accessible to anyone with low health literacy, including those with learning disabilities: https://www.easyhealth.org.uk
Covid 19 resources
- Vaccine Confidence Project: https://www.vaccineconfidence.org/
- Full Fact is an independent, nonpartisan team of independent fact checkers, on their website org and various resources below:
- Check out misleading/false claims on social media around COVID-19: https://fullfact.org/health/coronavirus
- Guidance on how to fact-check claims around COVID-19: https://fullfact.org/health/how-to-fact-check-coronavirus
- If you have WhatsApp, chat with Full Fact direct to check out claims: https://fullfact.org/blog/2020/sep/full-fact-whatsapp-uk
- Facebook tips to spot false news: https://www.facebook.com/help/188118808357379
- How to check if an image you have seen on social media is real – three quick ways to verify images on a smartphone: https://gijn.org/2018/02/27/3-quick-ways-verify-images-smartphone
Further help
Contact our Patient Information Specialist Librarian cecilia.bethencourt-dunning@nhs.net for further guidance. More useful resources can be found on our website at Accessing online resources (under Carer and patient information).
