The Internet: Plague or Panacea. An Evaluation of over 1000 Behavioral Healthcare Sites.

This study provides comparative data describing the quality of 1,175 psychological sites currently available on the Internet. A rating scale was used to assess six dimensions of site quality including accuracy, practicality, normalization and sense of belonging, referral, and feedback mechanisms. One-way ANOVA on the six separate quality items and summary scores revealed significant differences in the quality of ratings across the different topic categories. These categories were parenting problems, health problems, common emotional disorders, and severe mental illnesses. Sites addressing the needs of parents and those with health-related concerns received higher ratings; sites targeting the "worried well" and those with personality disorders received the least strong endorsements. Sites addressing the needs of those affected by severe mental illnesses received moderate ratings. The prevalence of commercial motivation affecting sites targeting the worried well appears to have compromised the quality of many of the sites. Overall, the ratings suggest that the average quality of the current sites was not impressive. Appendixes are "The Explosion of Psychological Help on the Net: Electronic Behavioral Healthcare," the original and revised evaluation form used in the study, and evaluation descriptions. (Contains 1 table and 114 references.) (MKA)