%0 Journal Article
%@ 2369-3762
%I JMIR Publications
%V 9
%N 
%P e38687
%T Health Information and Misinformation: A Framework to Guide Research and Practice
%A Fridman,Ilona
%A Johnson,Skyler
%A Elston Lafata,Jennifer
%+ Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, 101 Manning Dr, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States, 1 6469028137, ilona_fridman@med.unc.edu
%K misinformation
%K social networks
%K decision-making
%K information validation
%K policy
%K health information
%K web-based
%D 2023
%7 7.6.2023
%9 Viewpoint
%J JMIR Med Educ
%G English
%X When facing a health decision, people tend to seek and access web-based information and other resources. Unfortunately, this exposes them to a substantial volume of misinformation. Misinformation, when combined with growing public distrust of science and trust in alternative medicine, may motivate people to make suboptimal choices that lead to harmful health outcomes and threaten public safety. Identifying harmful misinformation is complicated. Current definitions of misinformation either have limited capacity to define harmful health misinformation inclusively or present a complex framework with information characteristics that users cannot easily evaluate. Building on previous taxonomies and definitions, we propose an information evaluation framework that focuses on defining different shapes and forms of harmful health misinformation. The framework aims to help health information users, including researchers, clinicians, policy makers, and lay individuals, to detect misinformation that threatens truly informed health decisions.
%M 37285192
%R 10.2196/38687
%U https://mededu.jmir.org/2023/1/e38687
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/38687
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37285192