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Evaluating a Health Promotion Website

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Evaluating a Health Promotion Website
Essay 2: Evaluating a health promotion website
Word count: 2,027

Introduction

Health Information Technology (HIT) has been introduced into the National Health Service (NHS) in order to improve the quality, efficiency, safety and cost effectiveness of the delivery of health care. The application of computerized information technology in health care settings has so far played a vital role in improving the accessibility of information and has replaced more labour intensive and unproductive methods (Shekelle and Goldzweig, 2009).

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC, 2009) maintain that that nurses’ skills, knowledge and practice must be guided by the best available evidence. Often this evidence is found on the internet however many sources of information can be inaccurate so a good standard of critical evaluation is required (Kim, Eng, Deering et al 1998).

To evaluate the quality and reliability of a chosen website the use of a framework can be helpful such as Roberts (2012) 5 C’s website tool. This framework evaluates five areas: credibility, currency, content, construction and clarity. The website The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RC Psych, 2012 a) was chosen to be evaluated because as a mental health nursing student this will develop an awareness of how information technology is implemented and applied to practice in health care. Additionally, by using Roberts (2012) 5 C’s framework to critically evaluate this website, knowledge and skills of the quality and reliability of HIT will be acquired.

Main Body

RC Psych is the professional and educational organisation for psychiatrist in the UK as well as being a registered charity (RC Psych, 2012 b). Their website is aimed at improving the lives of individuals affected by mental illness through educating the public. They claim to be at the head of developing and promoting best practice in mental health services through their education, training and research projects. Additionally they are



References: BMJ Masterclasses (2012) BMJ Masterclass for GPs: Neurology and Mental Health Speakers [online]. Available at: http://masterclasses.bmj.com/GPs/neurology-mental-health/speakers [Accessed 12 October 2012]. British Dyslexia Association (2012) Eyes and Dyslexia [online]. Available at: http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/about-dyslexia/further-information/eyes-and-dyslexia.html [Accessed 8 November 2012]. Byrne, P. (2011) 10 Things you didn’t know about RCPsych Public Education [online]. London: The Royal College of Psychiatrists. Available at: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/members/morrismarkoweprize/publiceducationcommittee.aspx [Accessed 12 October 2012]. Dyslexia Action (2012) FAQs [online]. Available at: http://www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk/Pages/FAQs/ [Accessed 8 November 2012]. Imperial College London (2012) Proffessor Peter J Tyrer [online]. Available at: http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/people/p.tyrer/ [Accessed 1 November 2012). Kim, P., Eng, T., Deering, M. and Maxfield, A. (1998) Published criteria for evaluating health related web sites: review [online]. Available at: http://www.bmj.com/content/318/7184/647.1 [Accessed 18 October 2012]. Lindgaard, G., Fernandes, G., Dudek, C. and Brown, J. (2006) Attention web designers: You have 50 milliseconds to make a first impression! Behaviour and Information Technology 25(2): pp.115-126. NICE (2009) CG90 Depression in adults: The treatment and management of depression in adults [online]. Available at: http://publications.nice.org.uk/depression-in-adults-cg90 [Accessed 8 November 2012]. Roberts, L. (2010) Health information and the internet: The 5 Cs website evaluation tool. British Journal of Nursing 19(5):pp.322-325. The Royal College of Psychiatrists (2012 a) Improving the lives of people with mental illness [online]. London: The Royal College of Psychiatrists. Available at: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/default.aspx [Accessed 25 October 2012]. The Royal College of Psychiatrists (2012 b) Ten things you didn’t know about the college [online]. London: The Royal College of Psychiatrists. Available at: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/aboutthecollege/interestingrcpsychfacts.aspx [Accessed 25 October 2012]. The Royal College of Psychiatrists (2012 c) About Us [online]. London: The Royal College of Psychiatrists. Available at: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/systempages/aboutrcpsych.aspx [Accessed 12 October 2012]. The Royal College of Psychiatrists (2012 d) Structure – Belgrave Square [online]. London: The Royal College of Psychiatrists. Available at: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/College%20Structure%20%28Oct%202012%29.pdf [Accessed 25 October 2012]. The Royal College of Psychiatrists (2012 e) About our leaflets [online]. London: The Royal College of Psychiatrists. Available at: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/expertadvice/moreinformation/aboutourleaflets.aspx [Accessed 25 October 2012]. The Royal College of Psychiatrists (2012 f) Depression [online]. London: The Royal College of Psychiatrists. Available at: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/mentalhealthproblems/depression/depression.aspx [Accessed 1 November 2012].

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