An Analysis of Online Health Information from Psychology Today Sarah E. Basuric University of Alberta Faculty of Nursing 1229968 The purpose of this discussion is to analyze an article from Psychology Today entitled A Multitasking Molecule: Melatonin Does a lot More Than Help you Sleep. This discussion will explore the credibility of the site, the purpose of the article, the congruency of content versus audience, the methods used, and the balance of information. Upon viewing the site, the top of the screen urges the reader to find a therapist, and contains a clearly laid out navigation bar. Advertisements and links to other Psychology Today articles run down the right side of the screen. The site is quite user-friendly. This article was written by Rachel Uda; the date of publication and date of last review are listed. Lorraine Roberts (2010) explains criteria for evaluating a health website. The first is credibility, in which the reader is to seek out specific qualifications of the author (Roberts, 2010, p. 322). A search of both the “experts” drop-down menu and the general search bar of Psychology Today did not yield any credentials for Uda. A Google search brought up her LinkedIn site, which states that she attended Graduate School of Journalism from Columbia University. This leads the writer to question the qualifications of the author, as it appears she has credentials as a journalist, not as a psychologist or expert on
In this paper, I have chosen a health-related website and evaluated its credibility. The search engine used to locate the domain, mayoclinic.org, was Google. The specific web address is http://mayoclinic.org. Mayo Clinic is a healthcare organization centered on patient care. It offers locations in Arizona, Florida, and Minnesota. Mayoclinic.org is a website based from the organization, Mayo Clinic, which offers a wealth of health-related information on medicine, occupational health, health promotion, and disease management. The purpose of
Is there ever only a single person to blame? How is it considered a controversial issue with one person involved? In Nothing but the Truth by Avi Wortis, we learn that there are multiple people that could take the blame in every situation. Lying and blame can be revolved around very many people and in the book, Philip, Miss. Narwin, and Dr. Palleni will show how a slight, minor lie can escalate and can cause everyone in the situation to make mistakes.
As a college student, the information David Randall presents is very intriguing due to the fact that most of us are sleep deprived due to late night studying, among other things. It is very evident that Randall relies on statistics to build and progress his argument. He tells us how over time certain statistics have increases and by how much. This opens our eyes and makes us realize that there really is an issue. By providing these sources Randall becomes trustworthy and our doubt of whether this is true or not are put to rest. The author comes into contact with our feels once he brings in true stories to the picture. He informs us of the incidents that have occurred due to sleep deprivation. At this point the issue becomes more than a statistical
In today’s world of medicine when developing a patient care plan nurses should use evidence-based practice that has been peer-reviewed by subject matter experts (Miller, Jones, Graves, & Sievert 2010). The internet is frequently used by nurses to gather more information, expand their knowledge base, and provide patient education. The website http://kidshealth.org was found using the Google search engine, and chosen because of my work with the pediatric population. The purpose of KidsHealth is to provide parents, teens, and kids with a resource to consult regarding the health,
Health and medicine are important for a society to run smoothly. The internet can be very dangerous. First of all, one does not know who is putting this information on the internet and many illnesses have similar symptoms but need different treatments. It is not always easy to decide what is reliable. 80% of internet users go online to find health related information. Many people rely and trust the internet which makes them sicker. When one is unhealthy, it leads to them not being able to perform their role in society and become exempt from normal obligations. Doctors play a vital role in keeping people healthy and productive in our society. People tend to believe what they read on the internet. But as we have learned
Have you ever gotten lost in the Internet, swallowed by the constant updates on Twitter and Facebook for hours, when you only meant to be on for a few minutes? This is a constant battle in our society and technology changes and our use of it increases. It is becoming a bigger issue every day, and now it affects one of our basics psychological needs: sleep. Though I concede with Brooke Gladstone, author of “The Influencing Machines” that we can adapt to technology as it grows, I still insist that some issues that arise with technology are bigger than Gladstone portrays and we need to find solutions for some of the bigger problems that technology creates, especially when it disturbs a basic psychological need.
The objective of this study is to identify and evaluate a health-related website within the domain indicated as heart.org or heart.gov. This study will provide empirical evidence to support the website as a credible source for inclusion in a scholarly assignment.
his is a book of many virtues. It gives us an insider look at the birth of the sleep medicine specialty. It provides, in clear entertaining, first person-prose a first rate primer on the latest {"indings in sleep science. It speaks with the voice of a mature, humane, sane, and brilliant clinician. Most impressively it lays out in convincing detail the argument for the theory of the 24 mind. That theory, as I understand it, suggests that selected regions of the mind/brain are active and functional 24 hours a day. The
Caveat lector is a Latin phrase meaning, “let the reader beware.” Health information on the internet is growing at an alarming rate. However, some information on the internet is not accurate or current, and unfortunately, many web sites regarding healthcare offer misleading, incomplete, and incorrect information. Many consumers do not have the knowledge to judge and evaluate the quality of online information. This paper aims to discuss how the website WebMD presents information to readers. It will evaluate WebMD according to its source, where was the source obtained; type of funding, is it commercially funded or private; the validity and quality, how valid is the information and can it be verified; and privacy, is your personal information
I tend not to sleep very much or all that well. I try to push myself into a healthier, more regular sleep schedule, but darn if there isn't just too much information out there for me to discover, leading me to spend long hours gaping at a screen when I should be resting.
I will admit that I am a Google addict and use the site probably 5 times a day on average. I Google everything from a celebrity I saw on TV, to a word in Downton Abbey I don’t understand, to a concept in my Biology class. Among the things I Google is information about an illness or symptom. I usually just type in the general symptoms I am feeling and then click on a few of the different sites that pop up. With this info I do not self-medicate, but I just try to better understand what is going on. Now that I think about it, I never really thought that the info on a site I believed to be trusted, like WebMD, could be inaccurate. WebMD and MayoClinic.com are both sites that I would look at when the popped up on my Google search. I did tend to like MayoClinic.com better, but only because it was easier to use. I just assumed both sites would be credible and trustworthy.
Sleep is a beneficial necessity both from a scientific and psychological standpoint as sleep improves mental and physical health. Sleep plays an essential role in our growth and development as human beings. During sleep, our brains are growing and preparing for the day ahead so that we may be productive and attentive in every daily task (“Sleep”). Sleep is used by some as a way to escape the harsh reality of life, healing genuine sadness and terminating evocative pain. Without the recommended minimum of eight hours of sleep each night, people can get agitated, distracted easily, acquire health problems, make bad decisions, and feel sad and depressed (Borbely).
Determining the credibility of a website starts with tools that can be used to evaluate the site. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) offers information defining how to evaluate websites credibility. Key factors such as; “Who runs and pays for the website, what the website’s purpose is, Where did the information on the site come from and how is
Sleep is often over looked as an intervention for ME, but through the improvement of environment, medication, life style changes and self-help strategies, sleep can be improved to help provide symptom relief and increase an individuals energy envelope. (ANZMES, n.d.c; Pemberton & Berry, 2009; Wright,
From a psychodynamic perspective, sleep is encompassed by the sex drive as it fosters health and therefore encourages reproductive success. Sleep results from an imbalance between contending motives, and is a mechanism used to restore balance. The research method implemented by psychodynamic theorists to explain sleep is a case study (Burton et al., 2009). This involves the comprehensive observation of the sleeping behaviour of a small group of people. Afterwards, a test is applied to deduce the state of tension between the contending motives. The biological variable is sleep; the theoretical variable is the internal contention between motives. It is expected that when there is an imbalance between contending motives, sleep will occur.