Background: Oral cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality in the world over and is a major public health problem. There are numerous resources on the internet which provide information related to oral cancer. However, they may not be optimal and standardized. The present study was conducted to assess the quality, readability, and content of the online resources for oral cancer.
Methods: The content analysis approach was employed for the present study. Google search engine was employed to search for various online resources on oral cancer. The first 50 websites were evaluated for their quality and readability. Flesch–Kincaid readability tests were used to assess the readability of the internet material and consisted of Flesch reading ease and Flesch–Kincaid grade level. The quality of websites was assessed by Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmarks and HONcode (Health Over Net code).
Results: A total of 12 (32.43%) of the websites were fairly difficult to comprehend, while none of the websites were easy/very easy to comprehend. A total of 8 (21.62%) websites were readable by only college-level graduates. Overall, 21 (56.76%) of the websites did not have HONcode certification.
Conclusion: The present study revealed that a majority of the websites were fairly difficult to comprehend and readable by college-level graduates. There is a definite need to monitor the quality of the websites on oral cancer. The present study highlights the need for stringent norms and regulations regarding oral cancer made available to the common man on the internet.


中文翻译：

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口腔癌患者网络资料资源的内容分析——一项探索性研究


背景：口腔癌是世界范围内导致死亡的主要原因之一，是一个重大的公共卫生问题。互联网上有许多资源提供与口腔癌相关的信息。但是，它们可能不是最优的和标准化的。本研究旨在评估口腔癌在线资源的质量、可读性和内容。
方法：本研究采用内容分析法。谷歌搜索引擎被用来搜索各种关于口腔癌的在线资源。对前 50 个网站的质量和可读性进行了评估。Flesch-Kincaid 可读性测试用于评估互联网材料的可读性，包括 Flesch 阅读难易程度和 Flesch-Kincaid 年级水平。网站质量由美国医学协会杂志 (JAMA) 基准和 HONcode（网络健康代码）评估。
结果：共有 12 个（32.43%）的网站相当难以理解，而没有一个网站是容易/非常容易理解的。共有 8 个（21.62%）网站只有大学毕业生才能阅读。总体而言，21 个（56.76%）的网站没有 HONcode 认证。
结论：本研究表明，大多数网站对于大学毕业生来说相当难以理解和阅读。肯定需要监测口腔癌网站的质量。本研究强调需要在互联网上向普通人提供有关口腔癌的严格规范和法规。