Guiding parents in their search for high-quality health information on the Internet.

Parents commonly ask their paediatrician about specific Web sites that would be appropriate in their search for additional health information about their child’s condition. Some parents may be less interested in a physician’s recommended Web sites and may instead choose to search the Internet for sites that can offer a second opinion about their child’s health. The majority of Canadian households now have Internet access [1]. Among parents who were interviewed at a large Canadian paediatric emergency department [2], over 90% reported home Internet access and over 50% of the parents searched the Internet for health-related information. Families with lower socioeconomic status are also increasingly accessing the Internet for health-related information [1][3][4]. Information obtained from the Internet may influence a parent’s decision about health interventions for their children, and these decisions are often not discussed with the children’s physicians [5].