Model for assessing quality of online health information: a fuzzy VIKOR based method

Abstract

Today, tens and thousands of websites provide health-related information on various topics to a growing number ofconsumers. However, the lay user is often faced with a challenge of determining the quality of information provided byone site from the other. To ensure the protection of users from sites that provide unreliable and unsafe information, therehas to be a competent reviewing body that rates and ranks the quality of information provided by each site. This paper (i)proposes a new criteria framework for assessing the quality of online health information and (ii) uses a fuzzy‘visekriterijumska optimicija i kompromisno resenje’method to demonstrate how online health information providers couldbe assessed and ranked based on their quality. The fuzzy modelling uses pre-defined linguistic variables parameterized bytriangular fuzzy numbers in the assessment and subsequent ranking of providers under a particular health topic. A numericalexample is demonstrated using diabetes online information providers to show how the assessment and ranking is carried out.The proposed framework provides functional basis for evaluating the quality of internet health information providers on anyparticular health topic