Quality Measurement of Consumer Health Questions: Content and Language Perspectives.
J Med Internet Res
; 26: e48257, 2024 Sep 12.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39265162
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Health information consumers increasingly rely on question-and-answer (Q&A) communities to address their health concerns. However, the quality of questions posted significantly impacts the likelihood and relevance of received answers.OBJECTIVE:
This study aims to improve our understanding of the quality of health questions within web-based Q&A communities.METHODS:
We develop a novel framework for defining and measuring question quality within web-based health communities, incorporating content- and language-based variables. This framework leverages k-means clustering and establishes automated metrics to assess overall question quality. To validate our framework, we analyze questions related to kidney disease from expert-curated and community-based Q&A platforms. Expert evaluations confirm the validity of our quality construct, while regression analysis helps identify key variables.RESULTS:
High-quality questions were more likely to include demographic and medical information than lower-quality questions (P<.001). In contrast, asking questions at the various stages of disease development was less likely to reflect high-quality questions (P<.001). Low-quality questions were generally shorter with lengthier sentences than high-quality questions (P<.01).CONCLUSIONS:
Our findings empower consumers to formulate more effective health information questions, ultimately leading to better engagement and more valuable insights within web-based Q&A communities. Furthermore, our findings provide valuable insights for platform developers and moderators seeking to enhance the quality of user interactions and foster a more trustworthy and informative environment for health information exchange.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Informação de Saúde ao Consumidor
Limite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article