Quality evaluation of health information about breast cancer treatment found on WeChat public accounts
Abstract Background With growing cases of breast cancer, WeChat public account, an important information publishing platform of WeChat, has become a breast cancer treatment health information provider to a huge audience. It is essential for health information to possess high-level accuracy and relia...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Archives of Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-023-01184-2 |
| _version_ | 1797453801561522176 |
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| author | Wenjuan Yang Bingyan Li Min Liu Dongtong Tong Yang Zou Xing Li Lunfang Xie |
| author_facet | Wenjuan Yang Bingyan Li Min Liu Dongtong Tong Yang Zou Xing Li Lunfang Xie |
| author_sort | Wenjuan Yang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background With growing cases of breast cancer, WeChat public account, an important information publishing platform of WeChat, has become a breast cancer treatment health information provider to a huge audience. It is essential for health information to possess high-level accuracy and reliability. This work evaluates the quality of health information on breast cancer treatment in WeChat public accounts (WPAs), to benefit the patients while making treatment decisions and provide WPA authors with suggestions on publishing high-quality treatment health information. Methods With “breast cancer” as keywords, searches were implemented on weixin.sogou.com and the WeChat app. The WPAs oriented to patients with breast cancer were selected, and the four latest articles of each WPA were included in a set to be evaluated with DISCERN. Results A total of 37 WPAs and 136 articles published by them were included. The accounts operated by individual users were 54%. The median of overall quality of 136 articles was 44 (interquartile range = 10.75) and ranked as “fair”, of which only 28 (21%) were of “good” or higher quality. Among these articles, 74 (54%) were related to medical treatments, and 13 of them mentioned clinical trials; 36 (27%) dealt with surgery. 101 (74.26%) omitted additional sources of information; 102 (75%) did not explicitly suggest shared decision-making. A significant difference was not found in the dimensions “reliability of the articles” and “specific details of information on treatment choices” between the distinct categories of account subjects and various treatment options (P > 0.05). Conclusions The quality of the articles on breast cancer treatment health information in WPAs was moderate. WPA producers should focus on improving the reliability of information and providing more details on treatment options, to assist patients in making optimal decisions during treatment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:28:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-411dbcd985d94133a642dbf8f90c8add |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2049-3258 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:28:06Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Archives of Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-411dbcd985d94133a642dbf8f90c8add2023-11-26T12:24:44ZengBMCArchives of Public Health2049-32582023-09-018111910.1186/s13690-023-01184-2Quality evaluation of health information about breast cancer treatment found on WeChat public accountsWenjuan Yang0Bingyan Li1Min Liu2Dongtong Tong3Yang Zou4Xing Li5Lunfang Xie6School of Nursing, Anhui Medical UniversitySchool of Nursing, Anhui Medical UniversitySchool of Nursing, Anhui Medical UniversitySchool of Nursing, Anhui Medical UniversitySchool of Nursing, Anhui Medical UniversityThe First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical UniversitySchool of Nursing, Anhui Medical UniversityAbstract Background With growing cases of breast cancer, WeChat public account, an important information publishing platform of WeChat, has become a breast cancer treatment health information provider to a huge audience. It is essential for health information to possess high-level accuracy and reliability. This work evaluates the quality of health information on breast cancer treatment in WeChat public accounts (WPAs), to benefit the patients while making treatment decisions and provide WPA authors with suggestions on publishing high-quality treatment health information. Methods With “breast cancer” as keywords, searches were implemented on weixin.sogou.com and the WeChat app. The WPAs oriented to patients with breast cancer were selected, and the four latest articles of each WPA were included in a set to be evaluated with DISCERN. Results A total of 37 WPAs and 136 articles published by them were included. The accounts operated by individual users were 54%. The median of overall quality of 136 articles was 44 (interquartile range = 10.75) and ranked as “fair”, of which only 28 (21%) were of “good” or higher quality. Among these articles, 74 (54%) were related to medical treatments, and 13 of them mentioned clinical trials; 36 (27%) dealt with surgery. 101 (74.26%) omitted additional sources of information; 102 (75%) did not explicitly suggest shared decision-making. A significant difference was not found in the dimensions “reliability of the articles” and “specific details of information on treatment choices” between the distinct categories of account subjects and various treatment options (P > 0.05). Conclusions The quality of the articles on breast cancer treatment health information in WPAs was moderate. WPA producers should focus on improving the reliability of information and providing more details on treatment options, to assist patients in making optimal decisions during treatment.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-023-01184-2Breast cancerTreatment health informationQuality evaluationWeChat public accounts |
| spellingShingle | Wenjuan Yang Bingyan Li Min Liu Dongtong Tong Yang Zou Xing Li Lunfang Xie Quality evaluation of health information about breast cancer treatment found on WeChat public accounts Archives of Public Health Breast cancer Treatment health information Quality evaluation WeChat public accounts |
| title | Quality evaluation of health information about breast cancer treatment found on WeChat public accounts |
| title_full | Quality evaluation of health information about breast cancer treatment found on WeChat public accounts |
| title_fullStr | Quality evaluation of health information about breast cancer treatment found on WeChat public accounts |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quality evaluation of health information about breast cancer treatment found on WeChat public accounts |
| title_short | Quality evaluation of health information about breast cancer treatment found on WeChat public accounts |
| title_sort | quality evaluation of health information about breast cancer treatment found on wechat public accounts |
| topic | Breast cancer Treatment health information Quality evaluation WeChat public accounts |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-023-01184-2 |
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