The unpromising quality and evolution of Spanish public hospital web sites

Developing health sector websites assessment instrument: Challenges and pitfalls

Electronic health services have been received with a tremendous interest world over. Patients consider hospital websites as highly important sources for health information and services. As a number of health institutes are carrying out projects to improve their websites, the need to design proper assessment means to measure whether they have achieved or are going to achieve their targets arises. Proper assessment of these websites gives us crucial information on the kind of changes needed to make them successful. To satisfy this need, an instrument called Health Sector Website Assessment Index (HSWAI) was developed, integrating the assessment of content, services, community interaction and technology features criteria, under a multi-indicator approach. Many of the considered indicators could be used to monitor progress towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, which is the United Nations health-focused goal. The purpose of this study is to highlight the challenges of developing and applying the assessment instrument for health institute websites. The paper covers key issues and challenges in conceiving, designing, developing, refining and validating HSWAI, and finally in applying it to a set of Portuguese health institutes. The results of this study could provide several insights and recommendations to e-Government assessment researchers and practitioners at the national and agency levels on the development of relative e-Government assessment tools. Studies such as the current one, apart from presenting applied solutions and relative lessons learned, are valuable to the conceptualization and application of present and future e-Government assessment initiatives, regardless of the sector where the effort occurs.

eHealth policy in Spain: A comparative study between general population and groups at risk of social exclusion in Spain

Background

In recent years, the healthcare sector has experienced accelerated progress in terms of the inclusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in its procedures and formalities. However, public administrations have been unable to adapt to the peculiarities of the most vulnerable groups. This leads to marginalization of at-risk groups within the healthcare system and contributes to the widening of the so-called digital divide.

Methods

Based on the analysis of the literature, three dimensions have been constructed to identify the level of inclusion of web portals: the perception of quality, the perception of usability, and the importance attributed to their content. In order to obtain data on each of these dimensions, a study was designed based on the user test methodology as a central element (identifying and evaluating 11 vulnerable groups) and, in parallel, a survey of the general population and heuristic tests.

Results

A high percentage of vulnerable people at risk of social exclusion are not receiving adequate healthcare due to the digitalization of the system and the implementation of scarcely inclusive health web portals, which pose significant barriers in service provision for the 11 selected collectives. Meanwhile, the general population is being introduced to eHealth benefits, although the latter did not have high levels of digitization or a broad portfolio of services.

Conclusions

The general population has a relatively positive perspective of eHealth services, but only a minority of them make intensive use of them, and they are not widespread in Spain as a whole. Meanwhile, the population at risk of exclusion lacks the skills and resources to make real use of eHealth, needing "digital intermediaries" from the social sphere to achieve results. eHealth policies are not taking into account people with higher levels of marginalization, aggravating their exclusion and the digital divide.

Calidad web y Buen Gobierno Corporativo en los hospitales privados de Andalucía y Cataluña

El objetivo del estudio es analizar la calidad de las páginas web de los hospitales privados de Andalucía y Cataluña, así como los indicadores que contribuyen a mejorar el Gobierno Corporativo para una eficiente utilización de los fondos públicos que obtienen mediante los conciertos. El estudio responde a la demanda de información digital, transparente y de calidad en las organizaciones sanitarias, en consonancia con el marco legal español y europeo. La metodología de trabajo, utilizada y contrastada en un estudio previo, consiste en explorar la puntuación de las páginas web de las empresas hospitalarias privadas de ambas comunidades, mediante un cuestionario y herramientas de accesibilidad acreditados. Esta exploración permite identificar la información web de calidad y su relación con indicadores de Buen Gobierno Corporativo, definidos y contrastados en el Modelo de Información Integrada a nivel nacional e internacional. Los resultados señalan que la calidad web aumenta con memorias de Gobierno Corporativo, un mayor tamaño de los hospitales privados y la concentración del accionariado.

Características de las páginas web de los hospitales de la Comunidad de Madrid: relación entre la calidad web y la responsabilidad social corporativa

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar el contenido y características de las páginas web de los hospitales públicos y privados de la Comunidad de Madrid, y a la vez, evidenciar si existe una relación significativa entre la calidad de las webs y la presencia de indicadores de Responsabilidad Social Corporativa (RSC) en las mismas. El estudio da respuesta a la creciente demanda de información digital de las instituciones sanitarias y el cumplimiento de la Ley de Transparencia, Acceso a la Información Pública y Buen Gobierno. La metodología utilizada, avalada por publicaciones académicas solventes, consiste en explorar la puntuación de los hospitales objeto de estudio mediante cuestionarios y herramientas de accesibilidad que permiten identificar una información web de calidad, en relación directa con los indicadores de RSC, según contrastes estadísticos, especialmente en el caso de hospitales públicos.

Do personalisation and emotions affect the use of cancer-related websites?

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the type of personalisation services satisfying the needs of cancer websites’ target users, and the influence of their emotional states on website usage intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

Three data collection methods were employed. Survey questionnaires were distributed to online health users. Interviews with representatives of the cancer-affected population further explored emotions as stimuli for online cancer-related activities. Finally, availability of personalisation features was evaluated on existing health websites in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the UK.

Findings

A clear preference emerged for personalisation on cancer-related websites. There are specific personalisation features the cancer-affected population desires. Interestingly, certain emotions were found to stimulate visits to health websites.

Research limitations/implications

Fighting cancer implies constant support, including from cancer-related websites. It is thus vital to understand the required personalisation, stemming from target users’ actual needs, including the neglected user characteristics, as are emotions for cancer-affected people. This supports emotion-based personalisation.

Originality/value

The paper focusses on the cancer-affected population, and developing a comprehensive understanding of their personalisation needs in online health services. It further shows which emotions influence intentions to use cancer websites. The three concepts combined have not yet been studied, to the best of the authors’ knowledge.

Quality of online information about sexually transmitted diseases

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to analyse the quality of online information about sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and determine which web sites are suitable for patients to read.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study evaluated the integrity, accessibility, readability, reliability, and completeness of 75 web sites providing information on one of five different types of STD. The Google AdWords Keywords Tool was used to determine the five most frequently searched STD terms: HIV, herpes, chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhoea. These five terms were then subjected to a Google search, and the first 15 web sites found for each term were evaluated. The web sites were assessed for integrity on the basis of a defined integrity score, accessibility on the basis of three levels of conformance to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, readability on the basis of the Flesch Reading Ease score and the Flesch-Kincaid grade level, reliability on the basis of the LIDA instrument, and completeness on the basis of the quality appraisal instruments developed by the authors.

Findings

– The results suggested that the quality of information available on different web sites is inconsistent, and the information maintained by government web sites is most appropriate for general public users in terms of integrity, accessibility, readability, reliability, and completeness.

Originality/value

– There are currently no studies analysing the quality of online information about STDs.