The American Diabetes Association Website Analysis Paper Example

Introduction

According to Ogurtsova, da Rocha Fernandes, Huang, Linnenkamp, Guariguata, Cho, and Makaroff (2017), diabetes presents a global burden. In particular, the estimates of diabetes prevalence, deaths linked to diabetes and healthcare expenditure because of diabetes present a significant social, financial and health system across the world. Cho, Shaw, Karuranga, Huang, da Rocha Fernandes, Ohlrogge, and Malanda (2018) estimated that 451 million people between the ages of 18 and 99 years had diabetes in 2017 globally. These figures were anticipated to rise to approximately 693 million by 2045. Also, around 5 million deaths globally were associated with diabetes while the global healthcare expenditure on individuals with diabetes was estimated to be USD 850 billion in 2017 (Cho et al., 2018). Tackling this menace is a vital thing to reduce the evident burden. Many websites and writers have researched widely and provided a lot of information on ways to manage diabetes.

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Website Analysis

The main title of the website is the American Diabetes Association. This website mainly focuses on diabetes with a mission to prevent and cure diabetes and improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. In particular, the website provides information on the types of diabetes, their symptoms, and ways to manage it through diet by recommending recipes and meal plans. Also, the website provides information regarding the link of diabetes with other diseases such as cardiovascular disease to raise awareness among individuals accessing the website.

According to Butkiewicz, Madhyastha, and Sekar (2011, November), a well-designed website includes key elements such as the space, navigation, 'About Us' page, and contact details. The American Diabetes Association website is well-designed because it incorporates all these features. Space is used effectively, which leads to a good flow and readability of the content. In particular, there is consistency in spacing throughout the web pages. Also, the images are surrounded by adequate white space, which makes them appear large, and readable (Reinecke, Yeh, Miratrix, Mardiko, Zhao, Liu, & Gajos, 2013). Additionally, the website has used simple navigation that enables users to navigate throughout the website. In particular, it has a simple menu and a progress navigation comprising of clickable text as buttons. Similarly, the website has an 'About Us' page that tells users about the website owners and its goals. The website also has contact information that includes a phone number and a contact form for users to email directly from the website. Other features included in the website design are a signup button, a search box, and informational footer. The sponsor of this website is the American Diabetes Association.

The website is updated every year. It was created in 1995 and the last update was in 2018 (American Diabetes Association, 2018). The website records that the information availed are not a substitute for advice from one's doctor or other health care provider. Mainly, it targets people affected by diabetes. Evidently, it is clear that diabetes patients, their families, and caregivers are the target audience of the website. Moreover, all the information, resources and services offered on the website seek to prevent and cure diabetes. The website presents this information appropriately to the target audience through simple menus, navigation panels, and images.

Credibility of Information

It is evident that the authors of the information on the website have some authority in the field of diabetes. Furthermore, contributors to this information include a professional society of approximately 14,000 healthcare professionals (American Diabetes Association, 2018). The American Diabetes Association is responsible for all the information availed on the website. Contact information including a phone number, physical location, and a contact form is available on the website.

Clearly, the information on the website is unbiased. In particular, the Association conducts research, has partnerships and innovates on a global scale to drive discoveries to prevent, manage and cure diabetes. Deriving facts from these research projects eliminate any biases in the information availed. For example, the website provides users with the most current information concerning breakthroughs in diabetes research and treatment options (American Diabetes Association, 2018). In addition, testimonials from Association members provide credible information that users can implement in their management of diabetes.

The information lacks complete lists of work cited. However, the information is valid because it is supported by evidence from the Association's research projects. This gives the authors an objective point of view while informing the website users and eliminated any bias. Also, the information is accurate based on the Association's research findings. This includes the statistics about diabetes, its symptoms, prevalence among regions and groups of people. Additionally, all the books for professionals availed on the website are vetted to ensure they provide the most up-to-date clinical guidelines and research for doctors, nurses, educators, and all healthcare professionals (American Diabetes Association, 2018). Access to such books and additional resources such as magazines and journals is enabled through links on the website. These links facilitate access to these resources with minimum effort.

Adequacy

Overall, the website provides adequate consumer or patient education. It has a program called patient INFORM that avails patients with access to research on the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and other diseases (American Diabetes Association, 2018). The education is adequate because the patient only needs to select and to view digests of current research published in respected medical journals on diabetes and related conditions. Although the consumer is redirected to another site, these medical digests are intended to help patients understand the latest research. In addition, the website has gathered resources that can assist health care providers, researchers, students, and educators locate reliable and scientifically verified information regarding diabetes.

The Sophistication of the Information

The website as a source of information is just right. It uses simple language that users can easily understand. In addition, it gathers together resources that can assist students to locate reliable and scientifically proven information and data concerning diabetes. These include resources for school projects. Also, the site describes the proper way to reference it in school reports and professional articles.

The purpose of the website is also easy to locate on the home page. This purpose is to prevent and cure diabetes and improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. The site matches this purpose. Moreover, all its information, research projects, and programs are inclined towards raising awareness about management, care, and treatment of diabetes. In addition, it published the global standards of medical care in diabetes that guide play a significant role in achieving its mission. Notably, this website is intended to educate not to sell.

Summary

In summary, the American Diabetes Association website is a reliable and valid information source to patient education about diabetes. The website seeks to prevent and cure diabetes and improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. It achieves this purpose effectively by aligning all its research projects, information, and programs towards raising awareness about diabetes. Users can easily access this information since the website is well-designed with simple menus and navigation bars. Also, it uses simple language that users can easily understand. Notably, this website is a credible source to use in clinical nursing practice.

References

American Diabetes Association. (2018). http://www.diabetes.org/

Butkiewicz, M., Madhyastha, H. V., & Sekar, V. (2011, November). Understanding website complexity: measurements, metrics, and implications. In Proceedings of the 2011 ACM SIGCOMM conference on Internet measurement conference (pp. 313-328). ACM.

Cho, N. H., Shaw, J. E., Karuranga, S., Huang, Y., da Rocha Fernandes, J. D., Ohlrogge, A. W., & Malanda, B. (2018). IDF Diabetes Atlas: global estimates of diabetes prevalence for 2017 and projections for 2045. Diabetes research and clinical practice, 138, 271-281.

Ogurtsova, K., da Rocha Fernandes, J. D., Huang, Y., Linnenkamp, U., Guariguata, L., Cho, N. H., ... & Makaroff, L. E. (2017). IDF Diabetes Atlas: Global estimates for the prevalence of diabetes for 2015 and 2040. Diabetes research and clinical practice, 128, 40-50.

Reinecke, K., Yeh, T., Miratrix, L., Mardiko, R., Zhao, Y., Liu, J., & Gajos, K. Z. (2013, April). Predicting users' first impressions of website aesthetics with a quantification of perceived visual complexity and colorfulness. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 2049-2058). ACM.