MAPPinfo – A checklist for assessing the quality of health information
What is MAPPinfo?
The abbreviation ‘MAPPinfo’ stands for ‘Mapping the Quality of Health Information’. It is a validated checklist that enables critical and systematic assessment of the quality of health information. The checklist operationalises the criteria set out in the guideline Evidence-based Health Information and is therefore based on the ethical requirements for health information and the current state of research, as reflected in the guideline.
What can be checked using MAPPinfo?
MAPPinfo can be used to check specific quality criteria that can be identified directly in a health information document or in linked documents (e.g. a methodology report). Quality criteria are assessed across four categories:
- Definition: To what extent are the target group and the objective described?
- Transparency: To what extent are details given about how the health information was created (e.g., authors,financing, timeliness, sources)?
- Content: To what extent are relevant contents included (e.g., explanations about options, presentation of benefits and harm)?
- Presentation: Are the contents presented appropriately?
For each criterion, brief instructions explain how it can be assessed. In addition, best practice examples are provided for illustration and orientation.
Using the MAPPinfo checklist
You can find the detailed user manual for MAPPinfo on the website of the Health Knowledge Foundation. The user checklist can be downloaded there free of charge in German or English.
In addition to this manual, the MAPPinfo Evaluation Toolkit is available. This Excel-based tool supports a systematic evaluation process by performing plausibility checks, assisting with consensus-building, and automatically documenting the entire evaluation process. The toolkit also carries out automated, standardised analyses of information quality and generates a standardised graphical summary of the results.
You can find the latest version on the Zenodo page: MAPPinfo Evaluation Toolkit
Use of MAPPinfo in research projects
MAPPinfo has already been used in several projects to assess the quality of health information on various topics. You can find an overview of the publications under the “Publications” menu. In addition, the data sets for these publications are collected in the MAPPinfo-Community on Zenodo.