Assessing the Quality and Readability of Online Resources for Plantar Fasciitis

The Internet is utilized now more than ever to research medical conditions and treatments by patients and physicians alike. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality and readability of information available online for plantar fasciitis. Web sites were identified using the search term "plantar fasciitis." The first 25 Web sites from 5 different search engines gave a total of 125 being evaluated. Readability of each Web site was assessed using the Flesch Reading Ease score, the Flesch-Kincaid grade level, and the Gunning Fog Index. Quality was assessed using the DISCERN instrument (www.discern.org.uk) and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria. The presence of Health on the Net (HON) code certification was also assessed. The authorship of each Web site was categorized into 1 of 5 categories (Physician, Academic, Commercial, Allied health or Other eg, blogs). A total of 83 Web site pages were evaluated with the majority of the web sites being authored by physicians (32.53%) and blogs (25.30%). Only 24 Web sites were HON certified (28.91%). Physician and Academic Web sites were the most credible sources, with the highest mean DISCERN (p = .00001) and JAMA (p = .0278.) scores, respectively. These Web sites were also the most difficult to read according to the readability score testing. The information available on the Internet pertaining to plantar fasciitis is highly variable and provides moderate quality information about treatment choices. Given this variability in quality, health care providers should direct patients to known sources of reliable, readable online information.