In association with Simon Fraser University & Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute
Simon Fraser University
Great Northern Way Campus
555 Great Northern Way
Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 1E2
tel: 1.604.268.7306
fax: 1.604.268.7309
email: act4hlth@sfu.ca
website: www.sfu.ca/act4hlth
Content Analysis of Health Information Websites (Theme I)
Investigators: Ellen Balka and Irving Rootman
Background
There are thousands of websites geared toward the delivery of health information to the general
population, each serving a variety of interests. Governments, non-profit organizations and
private/commercial actors (i.e. producers of information) have taken advantage of the Internet to
communicate with large numbers of people, and have established web sites offering a variety of
health-related information. However, no study to date has investigated who is supplying what
information, for what purpose, and for whom.
Project Description
This exploratory study seeks to shed some light in this area and gain a better understanding of
what information various producers provide, and the inclusiveness/exclusiveness of this
information in terms of its audience. In addition, the research explores how health information
web sites are established, developed, and maintained.
Methods
A research tool was developed to systematically analyze and compare the content of seven
health information websites. The sample included five government-sponsored health information
websites from Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, a non-profit and a commercial website.
To complement the web-based data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with
professionals associated with four out of the seven websites.