Higher quality content in the areas of psychological, neurotherapeutic, and alternative treatments needed on depression websites

TheBest · September 13, 2018, 3:57pm

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Searching for answers: How well do depression websites answer the public's questions about treatment choices?

K Walsh, TAM Pryor, KA Reynolds and JR Walker, Patient education and counseling, Aug 2018 18

The purpose of this study was to evaluate websites providing information on treatment for depression to the public, and to evaluate changes in the quality of website information over time.Websites (N = 25) addressing depression treatment were identified through the use of the Google search engine and by suggestions from healthcare professionals. Each website was evaluated based on the extent to which it addressed content areas deemed important by the public identified in previous research, overall quality as determined by the DISCERN, and reading level.Overall, the quality of depression websites varied greatly. The majority of websites did not adequately answer the public's questions about treatment options, and presented higher quality information in the area of pharmacological treatments as compared to other treatment options. An average reading level of 10.0 was found across websites. Upon re-evaluation, only 14 of 25 websites added new content, and the majority of websites did not improve in their overall website quality (as measured by the DISCERN).Websites could be improved by addressing important questions that consumers have concerning depression, as well as by creating higher quality content in the areas of psychological, neurotherapeutic, and alternative treatments.

Does this mean depression websites should focus on CBT and ECT? Stuff like that. I’m not sure what other options they are referring to.

rcjj · September 13, 2018, 4:00pm

The best treatment for depression is exercise!

system · December 12, 2018, 4:00pm

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Higher quality content in the areas of psychological, neurotherapeutic, and alternative treatments needed on depression websites

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