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WHSL Evaluating Websites for Health Information: SOAPs

A brief guide showing how to evaluate web sites used to provide health information

HONtools for Medical Professionals

Health on the Net (HON) Foundation

The Health On the Net Foundation (HON) promotes and guides the deployment of useful and reliable online health information, and its appropriate and efficient use. Created in 1995, HON is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, accredited to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. 

The HONcode is the most widely accepted reference for online health and medical publishers. The HONcode is based on 8 principles governing web-based medical information:

  • Authority
  • Complementarity
  • Confidentiality
  • Attribution
  • Justifiability
  • Transparency
  • Financial Disclosure
  • Tranparency

Exercise

How closely do the HONcode principles for web site evaluation correlate with the evaluation criteria you have been shown?

HON Seal of Approval

Any web site related to medical or health information that carries this SOAP can be trusted:

HON Seal of Approval