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Quality and readability of web-based information on dental caries in Arabic: an infodemiological study
BACKGROUND: Web-based information on dental caries in Arabic remains poorly understood. This study aimed to assess the quality and readability of web-based information about dental caries in Arabic. METHODS: The first 100 websites in Arabic about dental caries were retrieved from Google and Bing usi...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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BioMed Central
2023
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10601140/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37880640 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12903-023-03547-1 |
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author | Aboalshamat, Khalid |
author_facet | Aboalshamat, Khalid |
author_sort | Aboalshamat, Khalid |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Web-based information on dental caries in Arabic remains poorly understood. This study aimed to assess the quality and readability of web-based information about dental caries in Arabic. METHODS: The first 100 websites in Arabic about dental caries were retrieved from Google and Bing using common terms. The websites were classified and evaluated for quality based on the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria, the DISCERN tool, and the presence of the Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONcode). Readability was assessed using online readability indexes. RESULTS: A total of 102 Arabic websites were included. The JAMA benchmark score was low (m = 0.36, SD = 0.56), with 67.7% failing to meet any of the JAMA criteria. The DISCERN total score mean was 37.68 (SD = 7.99), with a majority (67.65%) of moderate quality. None of the websites had the HONcode. Readability was generally good, with 52.94% of websites having a Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) < 7, 91.18% having a Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) < 7, and 85.29% having a Flesch reading ease (FRE) score ≥ 80. There was a positive correlation between JAMA and DISCERN scores (p < 0.001). DISCERN scores were positively correlated with the number of words (p < 0.001) and sentences (p = 0.004) on the websites. However, JAMA or DISCERN scores were not correlated with FKGL, SMOG, or FRE scores (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The quality of Arabic dental caries websites was found to be low, despite their readability. Efforts are needed to introduce more reliable sources for discussing dental caries and treatment options on sites aimed at Arabic populations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12903-023-03547-1. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10601140 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-106011402023-10-27 Quality and readability of web-based information on dental caries in Arabic: an infodemiological study Aboalshamat, Khalid BMC Oral Health Research BACKGROUND: Web-based information on dental caries in Arabic remains poorly understood. This study aimed to assess the quality and readability of web-based information about dental caries in Arabic. METHODS: The first 100 websites in Arabic about dental caries were retrieved from Google and Bing using common terms. The websites were classified and evaluated for quality based on the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmark criteria, the DISCERN tool, and the presence of the Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONcode). Readability was assessed using online readability indexes. RESULTS: A total of 102 Arabic websites were included. The JAMA benchmark score was low (m = 0.36, SD = 0.56), with 67.7% failing to meet any of the JAMA criteria. The DISCERN total score mean was 37.68 (SD = 7.99), with a majority (67.65%) of moderate quality. None of the websites had the HONcode. Readability was generally good, with 52.94% of websites having a Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) < 7, 91.18% having a Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) < 7, and 85.29% having a Flesch reading ease (FRE) score ≥ 80. There was a positive correlation between JAMA and DISCERN scores (p < 0.001). DISCERN scores were positively correlated with the number of words (p < 0.001) and sentences (p = 0.004) on the websites. However, JAMA or DISCERN scores were not correlated with FKGL, SMOG, or FRE scores (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The quality of Arabic dental caries websites was found to be low, despite their readability. Efforts are needed to introduce more reliable sources for discussing dental caries and treatment options on sites aimed at Arabic populations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12903-023-03547-1. BioMed Central 2023-10-25 /pmc/articles/PMC10601140/ /pubmed/37880640 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12903-023-03547-1 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
spellingShingle | Research Aboalshamat, Khalid Quality and readability of web-based information on dental caries in Arabic: an infodemiological study |
title | Quality and readability of web-based information on dental caries in Arabic: an infodemiological study |
title_full | Quality and readability of web-based information on dental caries in Arabic: an infodemiological study |
title_fullStr | Quality and readability of web-based information on dental caries in Arabic: an infodemiological study |
title_full_unstemmed | Quality and readability of web-based information on dental caries in Arabic: an infodemiological study |
title_short | Quality and readability of web-based information on dental caries in Arabic: an infodemiological study |
title_sort | quality and readability of web-based information on dental caries in arabic: an infodemiological study |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10601140/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37880640 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12903-023-03547-1 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT aboalshamatkhalid qualityandreadabilityofwebbasedinformationondentalcariesinarabicaninfodemiologicalstudy |