Young Women and Online Health Information: A Study of Credibility, Access, and Usability

Abstract

Seeking health information online is a common practice in society today, especially among young people and women. Due to the increasing prevalence of this practice, I have reviewed current research on issues of credibility and access in online women’s health information to establish how credibility is conveyed online, and how improving access to online resources could decrease the number of barriers between individuals and health information in general (particularly for those individuals who might not have ready access to health care providers). I then selected a list of current health information websites designed for women and analyzed them according to well-known usability guidelines to determine how well these websites are designed for their audience and which design aspects could improve perceived credibility of or increase access to these sources of information.