xx Guide to Health Literacy The chart can serve as a guide however, approaching a librarian about how one can go about assessing the credibility of both print and online health information is far more effective than using generic checklist-type tools. While librarians are not health experts, they can apply and teach patrons strategies to determine the credibility of health information. With the prevalence of fake sites and fake resources that appear to be legitimate, it is important to use the following health information assess- ment tips to verify health information that one has obtained (St. Jean et al., 2015, p. 151): Don’t assume you are right: Even when you feel very sure about an answer, keep in mind that the answer may not be correct, and it is important to conduct (further) searches to validate the information. Don’t assume you are wrong: You may actually have correct infor- mation, even if the information you encounter does not match—that is, you may be right and the resources that you have found may con- tain false information. Take an open approach: Maintain a critical stance by not including your preexisting beliefs as keywords (or letting them influence your choice of keywords) in a search, as this may influence what it is pos- sible to find out. All images from flaticon.com
Previous Page Next Page