The Evaluation of the Child-Care Web Sites on the Internet

인터넷 육아정보 제공 사이트에 대한 평가

Purpose: This study was conducted to analyze web sites that provide child-care information and to provide a proper model for child-care web sites. Method: The evaluation tool with 23 items including purpose, contents, timeliness and reliability, interaction, and function was developed and modified. Quantitative analyses of 48 web sites, which were selected using popular search engines, were done. Result: 1) The aim of the web site was clearly shown for 24 sites (63.2%) and 17 sites (44.7%) provided the information for judging whether the informant was an expert. 2) Most web sites provided information on feeding, nutrition, and common health problems, and 11 sites provided information on care of problem behavior, but only 6 sites provided information on mother-infant interaction. 3) Timely information was provided on 21 sites, however none of the sites provided information sources. 4) Methods for contact the authors were found for 31 sites (81.6%) and 19 sites (50%) had active bulletin boards to receive opinions from users. 5) There were 32 sites where information could be found by clicking less than 3 times. Conclusion: We suggest that the evaluation criteria for child-care web sites used in this study is a tool that can be used to evaluate web sites with consistency, but there is a need for further study to develop standardization of the evaluating tool.