Cross-cultural Quality Comparison of Online Health Information for Elderly Care on Yahoo! Answers

摘要

Given the increase in global aging population, popularity ofrnsocial Q&A sites and the level of geriatric health concernsrnfrom family caregivers, it raises the uncertainty about thernquality of health information on community Q&A sites forrnfamily caregivers of elderly. The purpose of this study is tornevaluate the quality of geriatric health information on socialrnQuestions and Answers (Q&A) sites: Yahoo! Answers fromrnregistered nurses’ perspective. A total of 60 question-andanswerrnsets are retrieved from regional Yahoo! Answersrnsites, including Australia, Canada, UK & Ireland, US, HongrnKong, Mainland China and Taiwan. A total of 126 Englishrnanswers and 112 Chinese answers were examined byrnregistered nurses and library professionals. Results showrnthat the overall information quality provided in the Chineserngroup is relatively poorer than those of English especiallyrnin information quality dimensions such as Verifiability,rnCommercialisation and Completeness. Questioners formrnboth the English and Chinese groups might possibly missrnthe best pieces of information and advices regarding thernhealth concerns of their elderly family members since aboutrn40% of the best answers they selected did not match healthrnprofessionals’ picks.