1.1 Sources of Health Information

Information about health and wellbeing reach us from a wide variety of sources: ads, Internet, television, social media, podcasts, celebrities, and friends and family, among others. But how do you know whether or not what you see and hear is trustworthy? How do you separate fact from fiction from opinion?

To find accurate information about a variety of health-related topics, it’s important to develop and apply critical reading and evaluation skills to all of the sources of health information you come across. We will review the variety of sources you might encounter and these important skills in this chapter.

Sources of Health Information Learning Objectives

• Identify reasons why accurately assessing credibility of health sources can be challenging.
• Identify the characteristics of credible and reliable health information.
• Distinguish between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources of health information.
• Critically evaluate the credibility and accuracy of health information.