“Should I Trust or Should I Go?” or What Makes Health-Related Websites Appear Trustworthy? - An Empirical Approach of Perceived Credibility of Digital Health Information and the Impact of User Diversity

Luisa Vervier, André Calero Valdez, Martina Ziefle

2018

Abstract

An abundance of information is available on the Internet. At the same time the quality of information fluctuates largely. When people use such information for making important decisions, this becomes an issue. “Health” is one of the most searched topics on the Web and search results might have the biggest consequences for one’s life. However, trust in found information, or lack thereof, filters usage. To understand which elements on a website convince people to trust the information or not, we conducted a study with two aims: firstly, identify factors which trigger credibility; secondly, investigate to what extend both the medial presentation and the severity of the related disease influence the assessment of credibility. Possible factors were first collected in three focus groups and then operationalized in a questionnaire. We collected 184 responses where three different health websites differing in complexity and in the severity of disease (light vs. life striking) were presented and assessed. Results show that for more severe diseases more complex information is preferred. Further actually being ill influences the criteria significantly.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Vervier L., Calero Valdez A. and Ziefle M. (2018). “Should I Trust or Should I Go?” or What Makes Health-Related Websites Appear Trustworthy? - An Empirical Approach of Perceived Credibility of Digital Health Information and the Impact of User Diversity.In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health - Volume 1: ICT4AWE, ISBN 978-989-758-299-8, pages 169-177. DOI: 10.5220/0006734401690177

in Bibtex Style

@conference{ict4awe18,
author={Luisa Vervier and André Calero Valdez and Martina Ziefle},
title={“Should I Trust or Should I Go?” or What Makes Health-Related Websites Appear Trustworthy? - An Empirical Approach of Perceived Credibility of Digital Health Information and the Impact of User Diversity},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health - Volume 1: ICT4AWE,},
year={2018},
pages={169-177},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0006734401690177},
isbn={978-989-758-299-8},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health - Volume 1: ICT4AWE,
TI - “Should I Trust or Should I Go?” or What Makes Health-Related Websites Appear Trustworthy? - An Empirical Approach of Perceived Credibility of Digital Health Information and the Impact of User Diversity
SN - 978-989-758-299-8
AU - Vervier L.
AU - Calero Valdez A.
AU - Ziefle M.
PY - 2018
SP - 169
EP - 177
DO - 10.5220/0006734401690177