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Quality and accuracy of publicly accessible cancer‐related physical activity information on the Internet: a cross‐sectional assessment
Author(s) -
Buote R.D.,
Malone S.D.,
Bélanger L.J.,
McGowan E.L.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
european journal of cancer care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1365-2354
pISSN - 0961-5423
DOI - 10.1111/ecc.12518
Subject(s) - medicine , the internet , physical activity , quality (philosophy) , cross sectional study , coding (social sciences) , public health , health information , family medicine , health care , internet privacy , world wide web , environmental health , pathology , computer science , physical therapy , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , epistemology , economic growth , economics
In this study, we assessed the quality of publicly available cancer‐related physical activity ( PA ) information appearing on reputable sites from Canada and other English‐speaking countries. A cross‐sectional Internet search was conducted on select countries (Canada, USA , Australia, New Zealand, UK ) using Google to generate top 50 results per country for the keywords “‘physical activity’ AND ‘cancer’”. Top results were assessed for quality of PA information based on a coding frame. Additional searches were performed for Canadian‐based sites to produce an exhaustive list. Results found that many sites offered cancer‐related PA information (94.5%), but rarely defined PA (25.2%). Top 50 results from each country did not differ on any indicator examined. The exhaustive list of Canadian sites found that many sites gave information about PA for survivorship (78.3%) and prevention (70.0%), but rarely defined (6.7%) or referenced PA guidelines (28.3%). Cancer‐related PA information is plentiful on the Internet but the quality needs improvement. Sites should do more than mention PA ; they should provide definitions, examples and guidelines. With improvements, these websites would enable healthcare providers to effectively educate their patients about PA , and serve as a valuable resource to the general public who may be seeking cancer‐related PA information.