Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 MSc, Medical Library and Information Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

2 MSc, Management of Health Services, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Weblogs as one of the web facilities, are used for information exchange and interaction between people. There is a wide variety of medical information on the internet and there is not adequate monitoring on the quality and accuracy of these information. It seems nessesary to measure the quality of these information with standards. The aim of this study was to compare Persian obstetrics, gynecology and  midwifery blogs with selected criteria Methods: In a descriptive study, Google advance search engine was searched for Persian obstetrics, gynecology and midwifery blogs and 45 blogs selected and evaluated by a checklist. The blogs selected from three blog Service Providers: Blogfa, Blogsky and Persianblog. All blogs with at least five posts related to obstetrics, gynecology and midwifery and meanwhile the posts that were released from Augest 2010 to December 2011 included to this webometric study. The data were analyzed using SPSS 16 and Excell software. Results: Comparing selected blogs with 23 criteria in the cheklist, showed that the rate of blogs was good in 9 criteria, bad in 9 criteria, fair in 3 criteria. It was impossible to comment in 2 criteria because of interval data. One of the blogs titled Pezeshki-e-Balini was the best blog with a highest score (1618.65). Conclusion: According to the results, Persian gynocological blogs suffer from poor qualification. Regarding the role of such information sources in improving women and mothers’ awareness, it seems that much more efforts and attention by managers to improve the quality of these blogs is essential. Key words : Gynecology; Labor; Midwifery; Weblog; Webometric

Keywords

  1. Doroudi F. Web application of bibliometrics and link analysis. Information science and technology. 2010;25(3):549-67.
  2. Nikkhah Z. analysis of Persian library and information science weblogs. Faslname-ketab. 2008;19(3):103-18.
  3. Tajabadi R, Gari S. Capabilities and applications of blog in library and information science. 2008;2(7):58-73.
  4. Asnafi AR. webblog , a new gift of internet to the libraries. faslname-ketab. 2005:167-72.
  5. Karami T, Oloumi T, Rahimi S. Review of english language library and information science weblogs: analyzing the link between weblog types and their technical /content structure. Informatin science and technology. 2010;25(4):635-57.
  6. Brown H. View from the front line – medical Weblogs. Healt informationon the internet. 2003;34(1):5.
  7. Skroji R, Farhadi M, Haqqani HR. A comparative study on Iranian libraries and librarians,and superior librarianship web logs. Journal of Health Administration. 2007;10(30):33-42.
  8. Adams SA. Blog-based applications and health information: two case studies that illustrate important questions for Consumer Health Informatics (CHI) research. Int J Med Inform. 2010;79(6):e89-96.
  9. Karami T, Oloumi T, Rahimi S. Review of english language library and information science weblogs: analyzing the link between weblog types and their technical /content structure. 2010.
  10. Lagu T, Kaufman EJ, Asch DA, Armstrong K. Content of weblogs written by health professionals. J Gen Intern Med. 2008;23(10):1642-6.
  11. Karrasch N. Do Patients Search for Online Health Information? 2011.
  12. Fathifar Z, Hosseini AF, Alibeig MR. Survey of Persian medical and health websites qualification with Silberg criteria. Journal of health administration. 2007;10(28):25-30.
  13. Vakili R, Alibeyk MR, Rezaei Afkham F, khani S. Rating viral infectious diseases websites based on WHO and Silberg criteria. Journal of health administration. 2005;8(20):15-26.
  14. Mohammad Esmaeil S, khanlarkhani E. Evaluating of quality of web pages of Research Institutes affiliated to the ministry of science, research and technology in Tehran , from the users perspective. Payameh ketabkhaneh. 2009;15(3):78-108.
  15. Pakdaman Naini M, Bagheri M, Ghaebi A. Criteria for Evaluating Iranian Library and Information Science Weblogs. Faslname-ketab. 2011;21(4):189-202.
  16. Pakdaman Naini M. Evaluating and Ranking of Iranian library and informations science Weblogs: Al-Zahra; 2009.
  17. Noroozi AR. The Web Impact Factor:A Survey of Some Iranian University Web Sites. Studies in Education & Psychology Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
  18. ;5(2):105-19.