The quality of information presented on health‐related websites—in terms of comprehensiveness, accuracy and consistency—is a public health concern. To date, the consistency of information across Canadian websites devoted to Lyme disease (LD) prevention has not been evaluated. The first aim of this study was to describe the contents and recommendations of LD prevention websites provided by two types of Canadian organizations: government (n = 3) and patient groups (n = 3). A second objective was to analyse the level of convergence among these websites in terms of their prevention‐related content. Initial coding of the content resulted in information segments grouped into 114 subthemes related to nine overarching themes: tick habitat suitability, risk period, transmission, personal protection, peridomestic environmental management, tick identification and removal, early symptoms, testing and diagnosis and preventive treatment. Comparative content analyses were performed both within and between the content of websites of the two organization types. The themes most frequently addressed by both organization types were personal protection (20% of the prevention‐related content in patient group websites and 22% of the prevention‐related content in government websites), transmission (12% and 16%, respectively) and tick identification and removal (19% and 15%, respectively). Government websites’ information was generally convergent with that of patient group websites (four highly convergent themes, three moderately convergent and two divergent). Nevertheless, of particular concern were divergent messages and inaccurate information found on 11 subthemes out of 103. Examples included other possible modes of transmission and the ineffectiveness of DEET insect repellent. These results suggest the need for public health and health communications research on the issue of the quality of LD prevention information found on the Internet.

中文翻译：

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莱姆病预防：加拿大患者团体和政府网站的内容分析。

健康相关网站上提供的信息质量——在全面性、准确性和一致性方面——是一个公共卫生问题。迄今为止，尚未评估加拿大网站上专门用于预防莱姆病 (LD) 的信息的一致性。本研究的第一个目的是描述加拿大两类组织提供的 LD 预防网站的内容和建议：政府 ( n  = 3) 和患者团体 ( n = 3)。第二个目标是分析这些网站在预防相关内容方面的趋同程度。内容的初步编码导致信息片段分为 114 个子主题，与九个总体主题相关：蜱栖息地适宜性、风险期、传播、个人保护、周围环境管理、蜱识别和清除、早期症状、测试和诊断以及预防性治疗。在两种组织类型的网站内容内部和内容之间进行了比较内容分析。两种组织类型最常关注的主题是个人防护（患者团体网站中 20% 的预防相关内容和政府网站中 22% 的预防相关内容）、传播（12% 和 16%，分别）和蜱识别和去除（分别为 19% 和 15%）。政府网站信息与患者群体网站信息总体趋同（四个主题高度趋同，三个中度趋同，两个不同）。然而，特别令人担忧的是在 103 个子主题中发现的 11 个子主题存在不同的信息和不准确的信息。例子包括其他可能的传播方式和避蚊胺驱虫剂的无效性。这些结果表明，需要对互联网上发现的 LD 预防信息的质量问题进行公共卫生和健康传播研究。三个适度收敛，两个发散）。然而，特别令人担忧的是在 103 个子主题中发现的 11 个子主题存在不同的信息和不准确的信息。例子包括其他可能的传播方式和避蚊胺驱虫剂的无效性。这些结果表明，需要对互联网上发现的 LD 预防信息的质量问题进行公共卫生和健康传播研究。三个适度收敛，两个发散）。然而，特别令人担忧的是在 103 个子主题中发现的 11 个子主题存在不同的信息和不准确的信息。例子包括其他可能的传播方式和避蚊胺驱虫剂的无效性。这些结果表明，需要对互联网上发现的 LD 预防信息的质量问题进行公共卫生和健康传播研究。