!"#$$% Celia Boyer
& Internet is mainstream media 934 million users worldwide connected in 2004 Half of all European Citizens connected (7 country survey*) Importance of medical information on the Internet 665,000,000 results for the search term, health on Google 74% of Internet users in the United States have gone online in search of health information ** Is online information quality a real problem? How to solve the problem? * http://www.ejic.org/page2.html Germany, France, Great Britain, Spain, Belgium, Austria, BCS Health Informatics Switzerland Forum ** Harris Interactive Health report July 2005
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+,- The HONcode Principles obliges sites to disclose : Authoritative Is medical advice given by a medical professional? Complementarity Information should support, not replace, the doctor-patient relationship Privacy What use is made of personal data collected through the Web site? Attribution Refer accurately to source information Justifiability Site must back up claims about benefits & performance Transparency Accessible presentation, identities of editor & webmaster, email contact Financial disclosure Identify sources of funding Sponsorship Clearly distinguish advertising from editorial content Developed in 1996 by the Health On the Net Foundation http://www.healthonnet.org/honcode/
.. ) Information production process Neutral Third Party validation By a recognised organisation From knowledgeable references From the author
. - + Examples in Europe
(/0 1. Web publisher applies for accreditation, pledges to respect the 8 HONcode principles 2. Compliance review by committee 3. Changes made to the web site as necessary 4. HON delivers the HONcode Dynamic Seal Result : We subscribe to the HONcode principles. Verify here.
+ Pioneer since 1996 Millions of pagescode of conduct: 8 Accreditation principles programme Examples: The National Urban League Neprho.ch ClinicalTrials.gov AIDSPortugal Healthfinder.gov Stop-tabac.ch Cleveland Clinic Astrazeneca.it MedLine Plus Portal Mayores InteliHealth Hospital 12 de Octubre PubMed Diabetes Netzwerk Deutschland WebMD Sociedad Argentina de Pediatría +5,000 sites accredited from 72 countries - In operation since 1997 - Voluntary enrollment - Professional compliance review - Annual audit - Enforcement
1+ Voluntary enrolment for best results: the Web provider chooses to apply for HONcode accreditation Moral implication: personal commitment to observe the HONcode principles Pedagogical approach Communication with the site operator: prompt and constructive cooperation between the Web site owner and HON Require disclosure of information that, if known by consumers, would likely affect consumers understanding or use of the site and their resulting purchase or use of products or services. Ethical approach builds confidence The Web owner feels responsible about what she/he edits into the Web HON treats applications instead of creating them
#1. Initial review: Verification if the site is eligible to be HONcode accredited Verification for each principle if the appropriate disclosure statements are included If not: HON sends communication asking for amendments to be made (sent semi-automatically by email) and additional reviews are conducted until the site includes all required disclosure statements Activation review: Overall verification of the site compliance and if properly displays the HONcode active seal
213. -' Justification of the compliance Most common fixes : 59% Advertising policy 48% Sources of funding 35% Privacy and confidentiality policy 30% last date of modification 24% purpose of the site 22% author qualification 19% appropriate references 1% Webmaster contact Mean rate of initial compliance 73,6% Annual audit: compliance monitoring each year Enforcement
41++ If the site respects all the HONcode principles HON attributes a HONcode active seal which includes a HONcode seal linked to a PIN number providing direct access to the HON compliance information section (sent automatically by email) Serves for the enforcement in order to change the HONcode certificate status