Health is big business, and there’s no shortage of health-related content of all kinds to be found across the internet and social media. Empower yourself to assess the quality of this information with resources like the following sites.
The NIH site reviews the questions you should ask about any health information site.
This interactive tutorial from MedlinePlus equips you with the tools to help you identify trustworthy health information online, and includes a downloadable checklist of criteria.
This resource from DigitalLearn.org offers short and simple video lessons to help you understand how to access reliable sources for health information, and how to avoid potentially harmful misinformation.
If you access medical research articles, understanding the basics of scientific studies can help you make better interpret the findings. A general understanding of how science works is also very valuable.
This resource from the University of Glasgow will guide you through a series of questions to help you to review and interpret a published health research paper. It also offers introductions to some important concepts and skills (such as correlation and causation) that you may find useful when reviewing health research.
The NIH site provides guidelines to help you make sense of a health research study.
This interactive resource from the National Academies of Science provides an overview of the scientific process and addresses the question “why can we trust the information produced by scientific research?”
Health misinformation is common, spreads quickly, and can have dangerous consequences. We’re all susceptible to being influenced by misinformation, so it’s important to know how to identify it, and how we might counteract it.
The Office of the Surgeon General provides a set of tools for to understand, identify, and stop misinformation, to and help others do the same. A one-page infographic summarizes the main points.
This New York Times article offers guidance on how to recognize and respond to misleading health claims online.
The information provided by Scotch Plains Public Library and its employees does not imply medical recommendation, endorsement or approval. Information from these sources are intended for use as general information. All consumer health information should be reviewed with your health care professional for clarification about how this information may or may not apply to your unique clinical situation or overall health.