Search

Aim. In this study, “active” web sites related to health which were selected due to determined criteria have been evaluated in terms of formal, contextual and institutional characteristics. Methods. In this descriptive study, web sites which have been accessed when selected key words on the most frequently seen symptoms of the diseases were entered into the most frequently used search engine in Turkey. Four key words for each symptom were determined like “symptom alone”, symptom and prevention”, “symptom and diagnosis”, “symptom and treatment”. Researchers determined the most frequently seen symptoms of the neural, gastro intestinal, cardiovascular, respiratory, musculo-skeletal, endocrine, urinary, male genital, female genital, skin and lymphatic systems due to the answers of chief residents’ working at a university hospital to the question “Would you kindly say the most frequently seen five symptoms in your daily practice?”. All stated symptoms were listed by the researchers and three of five for each system were selected by random. For each key word, four searches were completed (the key word itself as well as three more searches using; “key word, prevention”, “key word, diagnosis”, “keyword, treatment”. Four different searches were done for each symptom which equals to 12 searches for one system. The first five web sites excluding the web sites used advertisements were investigated for one search. In the end, 60 web sites for each system and 600 web sites for all systems were assessed in the first run of the study. After exclusion of the duplicated sites, 475 web sites were included in the study. SPSS program was used for data entry and analysis. Results. Ninety two percent of the web sites did not include evidence based information. Besides, 40.6% of the current sites did not direct their users to either physicians or health professionals. Sixty five percent nine of the accessed web sites included advertisements. Only 9.7% of the researchers stated their possibility to recommend the web sites to their patients. The advertisement and sponsor relationships influenced their recommendation status. Conclusion. Web sites’ related to health/diseases need improvement (s) in order to be useful for their users in the community independently from commercial expectations, ÖzetAmaç. Bu çalışmada, sağlığı ilgilendiren konularda kullanımda olan ve belirlenmiş kriterlere göre seçilmiş bazı web sitelerinin şekil, içerik ve kurumsallık gibi özelliklerinin araştırılması amaçlanmıştır. Yöntem. Tanımlayıcı tipte olan bu araştırmada, Türkiye’de en sık kullanılan arama motoruna vücut sistemleri ile ilgili semptomlara ilişkin seçilmiş anahtar sözcükler verildiğinde ulaşılan web siteleri değerlendirilmiştir. Anahtar sözcükler, her bir semptom için dört adet olmak üzere “semptomun kendisi”, “semptom ve koruma”, “semptom ve tanı”, “semptom ve tedavi” şeklinde belirlenmiştir. Anahtar sözcükler, araştırmacılar tarafından belirlenen vücut sistemleri (sinir, sindirim, kardiyovasküler, solunum, kas-iskelet, endokrin, üriner, erkek genital, kadın genital, deri ve lenfatik sistemleri) ile ilgili araştırmacıların çalıştıkları hastanenin ilgili bölümlerinin baş asistanlarına ilgilendikleri sistemle ilgili “En sık gördüğünüz beş semptomu söyler misiniz?” sorusuna verilen yanıtlara göre belirlenmiştir. Baş asistanlar tarafından ifade edilen anahtar sözcükler listelenmiş, araştırmacılar tarafından kura çekilerek beş semptom içinden üç semptom seçilmiştir. Her bir anahtar sözcük için anahtar sözcük yanında virgül kullanılarak üç farklı ek sözcük kullanılmıştır (“anahtar sözcüğün kendisi”, “anahtar sözcük, korunma”, “anahtar sözcük, tanı”, “anahtar sözcük, tedavi”). Bir semptom için toplam dört farklı arama yapılmıştır. Toplamda, her bir sistem için 12 anahtar sözcük incelenmiştir. Her bir anahtar sözcük için reklam kullanarak üst sırada olan siteler hariç ilk 5 site değerlendirilmiştir. Sonuç olarak, ilk aşamada her bir sistem için toplam 60, on sistem için ise 600 web sitesi incelenmiştir. Sitelerde çakışmalar dışarıda bırakıldığında toplamda 475 web sayfası incelenmiştir. Veri girişi ve analizi için SPSS programı kullanılmıştır. Bulgular. Araştırmaya dahil edilmiş sitelerin %92’sinde kanıta dayalı hiçbir bilgi olmadığı bulunmuştur. Bununla beraber sağlıkla ilgili bilgi veren mevcut sitelerin %40,6’sında hekime veya sağlık çalışanına yönlendirme olmaması dikkat çekmiştir. Ayrıca sitelerin %65,9’u reklam içermektedir. Araştırmacıların sadece %9,7’si web sayfalarını hastalarına önereceklerini belirtmişlerdir. Reklam içerme ve sponsor olması araştırmacıların öneri seçeneklerini etkilemiştir. Sonuç. Sonuç olarak sağlık/hastalıkla ilgili web sitelerinin kullanıcıları için ticari kaygılardan bağımsız olarak yararlı olabilmeleri için gelişmeye/iyileşmeye gereksinimi bulunmaktadır.Anahtar sözcükler: Semptom, sağlık arama davranışı, internet AbstractAim. In this study, “active” web sites related to health which were selected due to determined criteria have been evaluated in terms of formal, contextual and institutional characteristics. Methods. In this descriptive study, web sites which have been accessed when selected key words on the most frequently seen symptoms of the diseases were entered into the most frequently used search engine in Turkey. Four key words for each symptom were determined like “symptom alone”, symptom and prevention”, “symptom and diagnosis”, “symptom and treatment”. Researchers determined the most frequently seen symptoms of the neural, gastro intestinal, cardiovascular, respiratory, musculo-skeletal, endocrine, urinary, male genital, female genital, skin and lymphatic systems due to the answers of chief residents’ working at a university hospital to the question “Would you kindly say the most frequently seen five symptoms in your daily practice?”. All stated symptoms were listed by the researchers and three of five for each system were selected by random. For each key word, four searches were completed (the key word itself as well as three more searches using; “key word, prevention”, “key word, diagnosis”, “key word, treatment”. Four different searches were done for each symptom which equals to 12 searches for one system. The first five web sites excluding the web sites used advertisements were investigated for one search. In the end, 60 web sites for each system and 600 web sites for all systems were assessed in the first run of the study. After exclusion of the duplicated sites, 475 web sites were included in the study. SPSS program was used for data entry and analysis. Results. Ninety two percent of the web sites did not include evidence based information. Besides, 40.6% of the current sites did not direct their users to either physicians or health professionals. Sixty five percent nine of the accessed web sites included advertisements. Only 9.7% of the researchers stated their possibility to recommend the web sites to their patients. The advertisement and sponsor relationships influenced their recommendation status. Conclusion. Web sites’ related to health/diseases need improvement(s) in order to be useful for their users in the community independently from commercial expectations.Keywords: Symptom, health seeking behavior, internet