Topics, Delivery Modes, and Social-Epistemological Dimensions of Web-Based Information for Patients Undergoing Renal Transplant and Living Donors During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Content Analysis

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has markedly affected renal transplant care. During this time of social distancing, limited in-person visits, and uncertainty, patients and donors are relying more than ever on telemedicine and web-based information. Several factors can influence patients’ understanding of web-based information, such as delivery modes (instruction, interaction, and assessment) and social-epistemological dimensions (choices in interactive knowledge building). Objective: The aim of this study was to systemically evaluate the content, delivery modes, and social-epistemological dimensions of web-based information on COVID-19 and renal transplantation at time of the pandemic. Methods: Multiple keyword combinations were used to retrieve websites on COVID-19 and renal transplantation using the search engines Google.com and Google.nl. From 14 different websites, 30 webpages were examined to determine their organizational sources, topics, delivery modes, and social-epistemological dimensions. Results: The variety of topics and delivery modes was limited. A total of 13 different delivery modes were encountered, of which 8 (62%) were instructional and 5 (38%) were interactional; no assessment delivery modes were observed. No website offered all available delivery modes. The majority of delivery modes (8/13, 62%) focused on individual and passive learning, whereas group learning and active construction of knowledge were rarely encountered. Conclusions: By taking interactive knowledge transfer into account, the educational quality of eHealth for transplant care could increase, especially in times of crisis when rapid knowledge transfer is needed.

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