Online Information: Use & Development

John M. Grohol, PsyD

HelpHorizons.com

American Psychological Association w Washington, D.C. w August 5, 2000

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com

Goals
Finding reliable information Determining reliability Developing your own Increasing online exposure Exchanging information with clients

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com

Finding Reliable Information

Common Information
Reference Web sites
NIMH, APAs, NMHA, NAMI

Directories
Yahoo! Open Directory Project (http://dmoz.org/)

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com

Finding Reliable Information

Uncommon/Specific Information
Search Engines
Help files (for syntax) & advanced features Quotes () for phrases Use + and signs to refine search Synonyms

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com

Finding Reliable Information

Research
Start with MEDLINE (online) or, through a university library, PsycINFO/PsycLIT Find journals Web site See if article appears on site

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com

Finding Reliable Information

Informal networks
Mailing lists (listservs) Newsgroups Professional communities

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com

Finding Reliable Information

When in doubt, fall back to real-world resources
University library:
Reference librarian Journal articles Databases

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com

Determining Reliability
Many incompletely developed instruments to evaluate health information exist on the Internet. It is unclear, however, whether they should exist in the first place, whether they measure what they claim to measure, or whether they lead to more good than
harm.
Jadad, A.R., & Gagliardi, A. (1998). Rating health information on the Internet: Navigating to knowledge or to Babel? Journal of the American Medical Association, 279, 611-614.

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com

Determining Reliability
Who is the author? Who owns the site? Agenda? Editorial policy stated? Written in clear, concise fashion? When was it written? Last updated? Research citations? Does it meet common sense standards?
John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com

Determining Reliability: Further Resources

Health Summit Working Group (HITI)
http://hitiweb.mitretek.org/docs/criteria.html

Health Information Technology Institute

http://hitiweb.mitretek.org/docs/policy.html

HITI Information Quality Tool

http://hitiweb.mitretek.org/iq/

Health on the Net Foundation

http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Conduct.html

JAMA
http://www.einstein.edu/mlswc/jama.htm

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com

Developing Your Own

Choosing content
Yes: Office phone, description of services offered or research, office hours, directions No: Home phone and address, personal e-mail address, specific personal information

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com

Developing Your Own: Dos

Design for lowest common denominator Keep It Simple & Consistent Place contact information on every page Register your site with search engines Check to make sure links to external sites work Check your work from another computer or Web browser Use ALT tags for images

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com

Developing Your Own: Donts

Assume a user has any software knowledge Assume a user is using the latest version of anything Publish backgrounds which interfere with the readability of text Add links to Under Construction pages Forget to finish content which may not appear in first revision Design navigational graphics unless you can easily update them
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Developing Your Own

Submit to search engines & directories Submit to specialty directories Let your colleagues know Let your clients know

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Increasing Online Exposure

Search engines vs. Directories
Automated search submission
http://www.register-it.com/

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Increasing Online Exposure

Search engines
Unique title tags HTML meta tags Resubmission Patience

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Increasing Online Exposure

Directories
Pick relevant category Dont resubmit often Dont submit to multiple categories

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Increasing Online Exposure

Specialty directories
http://www.find-a-therapist.com/ http://mentalhelp.net/cyp/ http://idealist.com/wwmhw/ http://www.planettherapy.com/locator/ http://www.psychology.com/therapist/ http://www.licensedpsychologists.co m/

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com

Increasing Online Exposure

Contribute
Articles Time Resources

Networking within your local community Reciprocal linking

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Exchanging Information with Clients

Set boundaries Discuss limitations of technology Follow guidelines
http://www.ismho.org/suggestions.html

Make security a priority

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com

Questions?
Finding reliable information Determining reliability Developing your own Increasing online exposure Exchanging information with clients

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com

Online Information: Use & Development

John M. Grohol, PsyD
HelpHorizons.com

American Psychological Association w Washington, D.C. w August 5, 2000

John M. Grohol, Psy.D. w HelpHorizons.com