Evaluating Wellness Websites

The Internet is a great resource for finding information to increase your wellness. Knowing how to identify a good site that will provide accurate information is important. Some things to look for in a good health website include:

  1. Expert: Who created the website? Is there a medical professional who has reviewed the site?
  2. Accurate: Is the information documented so that the reader can check it out and see if is truly correct? Are there references to other sources of information?
  3. Current: Is the information current....can you see dates for when the information was written, posted, and last updated?
  4. Feedback: Does the site give the reader an opportunity to e-mail the webmaster or other resource person?
  5. Sponsorship: Does the site clearly state who has paid for the site? Is it a professionally or commercially sponsored? Is it a .com, .edu, .org, or a .gov website?
  6. Advertising: If the site contains advertising to pay for the site, does it separate the information from the advertising? Is the reader clear about what is advertising and what is content? Is it a site that tries to sell products and might be biased?
  7. HON Code: this means that the site has agreed to ethical standards established by the Health On the Net Foundation. It is an assurance of better quality. Check the code at HONcode: Principles.

If most of these things are positive in the website you can probably trust the information you receive from the site. You can get more information on these and other criteria at Glossary of the Health-related Web Site Evaluation Instrument

Let's look at some of the sites to see how they measure up.

Choose one website from the following list and look for the six characteristics. If the site has four or more characteristics, it is probably acceptable.

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