Development and evaluation of a website with Alzheimer´s disease information and its consequences for communication

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To present the development of a website with information about Alzheimer's disease (AD) and its consequences to communication, and verify the technical and information quality provided to the elderly, elderly caregiver and Speech Language pathology therapist public.

Methods

A website containing information about AD was developed, attempting to use simple and clear language with concise content, analyzed by the Flesch index, which showed most of content (75% of the submenus) with readability related to the percentile “easy”. The website development followed the steps of analysis and planning, modelling, implementation and evaluation. The evaluation was performed by 16 elderly, 12 caregivers of the elderly and 28 SLP therapists. Statistical analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman’s Correlation Coefficient test.

Results

The survey had the participation of people with different educational levels, who frequently accessed the internet, with prevalence of the female gender. Content analysis showed statistically significant difference in the overall score between elderly versus caregivers and SLP therapists, as well as submenus related to the brain and AD, the phases and the impact on the communication. The website content was rated as “excellent”. The website technical quality evaluation presented as “adequate”.

Conclusion

The website was developed within the proposed stages and its technical quality and contents on AD are a reliable reference source or complementing information. Content adjustments of some submenus can be performed to attend to the elderly public; however, the technical support is present in regard to Speech Language pathology therapist evaluation.

Keywords:
Alzheimer disease; Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences; Aged; Caregivers; Health Promotion; Internet