Health information on Wikipedia
Health information on Wikipedia refers to information about health on Wikipedia. Some issues of interest relating to this topic are the number and demographics of people who seek health information on Wikipedia, the scope of health information on Wikipedia, and the quality of the information on Wikipedia.
Wikipedia is an extremely popular source of health information which is widely used by English-speaking people who use the Internet to access information. There are drawbacks to using Wikipedia as a source of health information.
Causes of popularity
Many people use search engines to seek information on the Internet. For many search engines, the response to requests for health information is that the search engine result page will deliver links to Wikipedia articles.[1] In the majority of cases the Wikipedia article for a given health term will be the first delivered search result.[1]
Assessments of quality
A review of nephrology content on Wikipedia found it to be a "a comprehensive and fairly reliable medical resource for nephrology patients that is written at a college reading level".[2]
Demographics of people seeking health information on Wikipedia
The majority of people in the United States use the Internet as a source of health information.[3] One study has suggested that 22% of healthcare searches online direct users to Wikipedia.[4]
Wikipedia is growing in popularity as a source of health information.[5] As time passes, the quality and scope of information in Wikipedia articles improves.[5]
A study of a particular group of veterinary students found that the majority of these students sought and found medical information on Wikipedia.[6]
Controversy
In 2009 a Wikipedia editor incorporated public domain images of the Rorschach test into Wikipedia.[7] Psychologists complained that the increased public exposure to these tests devalued their clinical utility, and that public health was harmed as a result.[7]
Sources of health information on Wikipedia
In 2009 the National Institutes of Health attempted a pilot project for integrating health information into Wikipedia.[8]
The University of California, San Francisco has a program for encouraging students to contribute health content to Wikipedia.[9]
The evidence behind the use of Wikipedia and other wikis in health care
A scoping review [10] published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research has summarized the evidence about the use of wikis, Wikipedia and other collaborative writing applications in health care (eg, Google Docs). This scoping review found some experimental and quasi-experimental studies of the effectiveness and safety of wikis as educational and knowledge translation interventions, however, the vast majority of studies are observational case studies about collaborative writing applications being used by health professionals and patients. The scoping review concluded that more primary research was needed to find ways to address the different barriers to their use and to make the collaborative writing applications more useful for different stakeholders.
References
- ^ a b Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1197/jamia.M3059., please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with
|doi=10.1197/jamia.M3059.instead. - ^ Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1111/sdi.12059, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with
|doi=10.1111/sdi.12059instead. - ^ Fox S, Jones S. The social life of health information Washington, DC: Pew Internet and American Life Project; 11 Jun 2009 [cited 6 Oct 2010]. p. http://www.pewInternet.org/Reports/2009/8-The-Social-Life-of-Health-Information.aspx
- ^ Makovsky Health (9 September 2013). "Online Health Research Eclipsing Patient-Doctor Conversations - Makovsky". makovsky.com. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
- ^ a b Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1345/aph.1L474, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with
|doi=10.1345/aph.1L474instead. - ^ Kolski, D (2013). "Use and acceptance of Wiki systems for students of veterinary medicine". GMS Zeitschrift fur medizinische Ausbildung. 30 (1): Doc10. doi:10.3205/zma000853. PMID 23467415.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b
- Cohen, Noam (28 July 2009). "Has Wikipedia Created a Rorschach Cheat Sheet? Analyze That - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. New York: NYTC. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
- Lilienfeld, Scott (3 August 2009). "The Rorschach-Wikipedia Kerfuffle Continues". Psychology Today. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
- White, Patrick (29 July 2009). "Rorschach and Wikipedia: The battle of the inkblots - The Globe and Mail". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
- Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1080/00223891.2012.725438, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with
|doi=10.1080/00223891.2012.725438instead.
- ^
- Madrigal, Alexis (21 July 2009). "Wikipedia Teaches NIH Scientists Wiki Culture - Wired Science". Wired. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
- Garnett, Carla (4 September 2009). "NIH, Wikipedia Join Forces to Improve Online Health Info". NIH Record. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
- ^
- Cohen, Noam (29 September 2013). "Editing Wikipedia Pages for Med School Credit - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. New York: NYTC. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
- Bunim, Juliana (26 September 2013). "UCSF First U.S. Medical School to Offer Credit For Wikipedia Articles". ucsf.edu. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
- Beck, Julie (1 October 2013). "Should I Be Getting Health Information From Wikipedia? - Julie Beck - The Atlantic". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
- ^ http://www.jmir.org/2013/10/e210/