Websites in Portuguese about oropharyngeal dysphagia in elderly

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Telehealth resources are important for the transmission of knowledge about oropharyngeal dysphagia in elderly. OBJECTIVE: To determine the quality and comprehensiveness of websites in Portuguese on oropharyngeal dysphagia in the elderly, aimed at the general population. METHODS: We used the Google search tool, with the keywords “oropharyngeal dysphagia” AND “elderly” and “orientation” AND “oropharyngeal dysphagia” AND “elderly”. Inclusion criteria were: websites and blogs in Portuguese that provided information and/or guidelines on oropharyngeal dysphagia in the elderly due to aging and/or neurological or oncological diseases. The selected websites were analyzed for quality by two judges, using the Health On the Net Code (HON Code) protocol, regarding the coverage (subjects covered), use of pictures/videos and their central objective. RESULTS: Nineteen websites were selected, observing a low HON Code score for the attribution items (source of information published) (mean 0.8) and updates (information on the update dates of the subject addressed) (mean 0.6), presenting the average overall score of 7.87, in addition to observing a narrow range of subjects. Regarding the availability of illustrations, observed that 90% of the websites did not present figures and 89% did not present videos to facilitate content retention. As for the central objective of the website, dysphagia was the central theme in 6% of websites. CONCLUSION: The websites presented a partial quality according to the ethical criteria, with a restricted scope, did not present the oropharyngeal dysphagia as a central theme, besides the non use of illustrations during the content. Thus, it is suggested to improve the existing websites on oropharyngeal dysphagia in the elderly