Table 1 Methodological characteristics of the included reports (n = 22)

Search process^a

 Search date or period mentioned

19

1

2

-

 Search engine or tools explained

21

1

-

-

 Justification for engine or tool provided

6

9

7

-

 Search terms mentioned

22

-

-

-

 Justification for search terms provided

2

13

7

-

 Consumer involvement in search process

-

21

1

-

 Initial hits in searches reported

7

14

-

1

 Language of assessed websites reported

21

-

-

1

 IRR for website selection determined

-

20

2

-

Quality assessment process^a

 Assessors blinded for the source

-

-

-

22

 Number of assessors reported

16

-

-

6

 Background or qualification of assessors provided

2

10

6

4

 Consumer involvement in assessments

-

10

-

12

 IRR for assessments determined

12

-

4

6

 Criterion standard for measures stated, different from opinion

21

-

1

-

NIH assessment tool for observational/cross-sectional studies^b

 Research question/objective clearly stated

22

-

-

-

 Study population clearly specified and defined

21

1

-

-

 Inclusion and exclusion criteria pre-specified, applied uniformly

19

3

-

-

 All websites selected from the same or similar populations

21

-

-

1

 Sample size justification provided

11

11

-

-

 Measures defined, valid, reliable, and implemented consistently

21

-

-

1

 Assessors blinded to the source

-

-

-

22