Background: Online sources are becoming increasingly important in health information seeking, such that they may have a significant effect on health care decisions and outcomes. Hence, given the wide range of different sources of online health information from different organisations and individuals, it is important to understand how information seekers evaluate and select the sources that they use, and, more specifically how they assess their credibility and trustworthiness.
Objectives: This article reviews empirical studies on trust and credibility in the use of online health information. The article seeks to present a profile of the research conducted on trust and credibility in online health information seeking, to identify the factors that impact judgements of trustworthiness and credibility, and to explore the role of demographic factors affecting trust formation. On this basis, it aims to identify the gaps in current knowledge and to propose an agenda for future research.
Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted. Searches were conducted using a variety of combinations of the terms: online health information, trust, credibility, and their variants, in four multi-disciplinary and four health-oriented databases. Articles selected were published in English from 2000 onwards; this process generated 3827 unique records. After the application of exclusion criteria, this was reduced to a final dataset of 73 articles, which was analysed in full.
Results: Interest in this topic has persisted over the last 15 years, with articles being published in medicine, social science and computer science, and focussing mostly on the USA and the UK. Documents in the dataset fell into three categories: those using trust or credibility as a dependent variable, those using trust or credibility as an independent variable, and studies of the demographic factors that influence the role of trust or credibility in online health information seeking. There is a consensus that in terms of website design, clear layout and design, interactive features and the authority of the owner have a positive effect on trust or credibility, whilst advertising has a negative effect. With regard to content features, authority of the author, ease of use and content have a positive effect on trust or credibility formation. Demographic factors influencing trust formation are age, gender and perceived health status.
Conclusions: There is considerable scope for further research. This includes: increased clarity of the interaction between the variables associated with health information seeking; increased consistency on the measurement of trust and credibility; a greater focus on specific online health information sources; and, enhanced understanding of the impact of demographic variables on trust and credibility judgements
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)