Developing an Instrument to Evaluate the Quality of Dementia Websites

Abstract

In today’s digital era, health information, especially for conditions like dementia, is crucial. This study aims to develop an instrument, demenTia wEbsite measSurement insTrument (TEST), through four steps: identifying existing instruments, determining criteria, selecting and revising measurement statements, and validating the instrument from March to August 2020. Five health informatics experts used the content validity ratio (CVR) test for validation. Thirteen evaluators compared Fleiss Kappa and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values across four dementia websites using TEST and another tool, DISCERN. TEST consists of seven criteria and 25 measurement statements focusing on content quality (relevance, credibility, currency) and user experience (accessibility, interactivity, attractiveness, privacy). CVR = 1 confirmed all statements as essential. The TEST demonstrated stronger consistency and assessor agreement compared to DISCERN, measured by Fleiss Kappa and ICC. Overall, it is a robust tool for reliable and user-friendly dementia resources, ensuring health holistic information accessibility.