Consumer Health Websites and Behavioural Tracking, Coursework Example

Introduction

The usability of a website interface is essential in order to achieve higher levels of traffic and a strong interest from the general public. This practice requires an informational set of pages that demonstrate expert knowledge of the topic and the ability to attract consumers for informational purposes (Ford, Huerta, Schilhavy, & Menachemi, 2012). In this capacity, comparing different websites offers an opportunity to formulate an opinion regarding the information that is provided and whether or not it is organized, fact-based, and useful for different applications (Ford et.al, 2012).

Body

A comparison of MedlinePlus and Pubmed, to put it mildly, is like apples and oranges, as the two websites were built for entirely different purposes. Therefore, while they may provide information regarding similar topics, they do not offer the information in a similar way, since one website targets students, clinicians, and other experts (PubMed), while the other website is designed for a consumer population (MedlinePlus). Furthermore, consumer websites may track users and design preferences in accordance with specific behaviors (Burkell & Fortier, 2013), which is not necessarily the case with a website such as PubMed, as it has a more scientific-based approach. Therefore, all websites should not be evaluated in the same manner, as they possess entirely different purposes.

Conclusion

The nature of consumer and scientific-based websites support a unique breadth of knowledge and resources to accommodate different purposes. During examination of a website, it is important to identify the information that is available, whether it is legitimate and grounded in fact, and whether or not it is attractive and pleasing to the eye. These characteristics must be considered as part of a larger strategy to evaluate websites and their effectiveness.

References

Burkell, J., & Fortier, A. (2013, October). Consumer health websites and behavioural tracking. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference of CAIS/Actes du congrès annuel de l’ACSI.

Ford, E. W., Huerta, T. R., Schilhavy, R. A., & Menachemi, N. (2012). Effective US health system websites: establishing benchmarks and standards for effective consumer engagement. Journal of Healthcare Management, 57(1), 47-64.

Hebda, T. & Czar, P. (2013). Handbook of informatics for nurses and healthcare professionals. (5th Ed.) Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall