Assessing the Value of a Nutrition and Dietetic Service Website.

ABSTRACT

Background: The Leicestershire dietetic service developed a website (www.lnds.nhs.uk) in 2004 with three levels of access; for the public, health care professionals (HCPs) and dietitians. Over 450 resources are available on the site. The website has never been evaluated, though is perceived as being used frequently by dietitians. Access to nutrition websites has increased over recent years. Marquis et al. and Buttriss [1,2] have discussed how nutrition websites are used by dietitians and the public and how and why their popularity has increased. The study aimed to explore the value attached to the department website, the costs of running it and make recommendations for future development of the website. Methods: The researcher developed a Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com) questionnaire, containing 12 questions to assess how visitors used the website and what they viewed. This was attached to the website for 6 weeks in spring 2013. Local Health Information Services (HIS) and Google Analytics information was available to look at retrospective website activity. Information on departmental printing costs was available to see if this had reduced over the time the website had been live. Results: Fifty four website users responded to the online questionnaire and indicated that this sample of users visited the website regularly and could find the information they were looking for. On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being a very positive response, the average rating for useful information was 4.19 and the average rating from users for the quality of the information was 4.27. The retrospective information showed that users, repeat users and pages viewed had increased steadily over the last 3 years. Unique visitors had increased from 7986 in 2011 to 10641(predicted in 2013) and return visitors had increased from 50.9% in 2011 to 57.6% (predicted) in 2013. The website users were a range of patients/public, HCPs and dietitians and although most users were from the UK there was an increasing worldwide audience. The printing budget had reduced over recent years while the number of dietetic staff employed and patients seen had increased between 2010 and 2012. Discussion: The results of the online questionnaire and Google Analytics data provided information that indicated the range of visitors valued the website and could mostly find what they were looking for. Improvements were identified e.g. a better search facility and consideration given to setting up Facebook/Twitter accounts to allow user experience to be captured on an on-going basis. The website was a very cost effective way of providing, accessible, evidence based, patient centred resources when compared with other ways of providing dietary information to patients and HCPs in Leicestershire. Conclusions: The website was valued and should be maintained with consideration given to the improvements recommended.