Judge: web sites for health - consumer guidelines - how to judge

	2.0 How to judge:

		2.1 Trust and reputation 2.2 Who produced the site 2.3 Purpose of the site 2.4 Funding sources 2.5 Date 2.6 How the information is written 2.7 Descriptions of conditions and treatments 2.8 Medical research 2.9 Personal experiences 2.10 Foreign sites 2.11 Communication 2.12 Links 2.13 Disclaimers 2.14 Kitemarks 2.15 Design 2.16 Interactive facilities 2.17 Other quality guidelines

2.14 Kitemarks

You may see a kitemark on a site. Kitemarks are signs or logos indicating that the Web site has been 'endorsed' in some way by another organisation.

Kitemarks can mean many different things. They do not necessarily mean that the health information is correct. A kitemark could just mean that in someone's view the site is well designed.

The absence of a kitemark is not a sign of poor quality. Only a minority of sites apply for them.

Look at the Web site of the endorsing organisation.

What are their aims?

What criteria did they use to 'judge' the Web site?

Who made these judgements?

Some common kitemarks are listed below.

Health On the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONcode) (http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Conduct.html) [Opens in new browser window]
(a) HON is a not-for-profit International Swiss Organisation. It has produced a set of eight ethical principles, the HONcode, that Web site producers should abide by.
(b) However it does not rate the quality of the information provided by a Web site.
(c) Approved organisations can place an active logo on their site. When you click on this logo you see a page on the HON site which tells you if they still endorse that Web site.
Bobby (http://www.mardiros.net/bobby-accessibility-tool.html) [Opens in new browser window]
(a) Bobby is a software tool that Web site producers can use to check that their site is accessible to people with disabilities.
(b) It does not assess the information content.
'Best Web site' awards
(a) There are a number of organisations that present 'Best Web site' awards.
(b) The criteria used to judge sites vary between these awards and can be subjective.
(c) The presence of such an award cannot guarantee the accuracy of the health information on a Web site.
Some examples of 'Best Web site' awards are:
(a) British Medical Association (BMA) Patient Information Award (http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/
LIBBMAPatientInformationAward) [Opens in new browser window];
(b) Plain English Campaign Internet Crystal Mark (http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/icm.htm) [Opens in new browser window];

Department of Health, Information Accreditation Scheme (http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/PatientChoice/Choice/BetterInformationChoicesHealth/Informationaccreditation/index.htm) [Opens in new browser window]. This scheme, currently being tested, will 'kitemark' health information providers.

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© Copyright for this site is held by Contact a Family and the School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences, Northumbria University. Site published February 2003. Last updated September 2008. Review date September 2009.