Be Informed!
Get relevant and reliable information
Resource Guides
Resource Guide on Transitions & Planning
The information and resources provided include:
- community program and services related to employment and living independently
- articles on planning for transitions
- tips on how to advocate for your loved one
- ways to help adolescents and adults to advocate for themselves
Good Information - Helping you find and use it
How do you search?
Quick & Easy Tips
A tutorial from the NLM for evaluating health information
Health experts and research agree that much of the health information on the Web is not good information. Some of the criteria used to evaluate health information include questions of reliability, support in scientific evidence, bias, and currency. Several tips are listed below that can help you find and use quality health information.
- No information on the Web should ever replace consultation with a medical professional. Beware of sites that claim to offer cures or treatments without consulting a licensed medical professional.
- Get information from at least 3 sources and compare. If there is a lot of agreement between them, the information is probably agreed upon by experts. Whenever you are unsure, discuss with your physician.
- Find out who the authors or creators of the site or information are. What kind of training and education do they have? Are their credentials clearly listed? If you can't find out who the source of something is, don't use the information.
- Try starting your search at a medical portal that has experts who regularly review the information provided and linked. Some sites are MedlinePlus, WebMD, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- How current is the information? Does the Web page, article, or handout have a date on it? Medical and health information changes quickly; new things are constantly being discovered through research. In general, information within the past 5 years should still be current.
Health & Education Resources
Evaluating Health Information tutorial from the NLM
HealthFinder.gov (from the National Library of Medicine)
MedlinePlus (from the National Library of Medicine)
MLA's Top Ten Most Useful Websites (from the National Library of Medicine)
A User's Guide to Finding and Evaluating Health Information on the Web
Benefits and Uses for Personal Health Records (from AHIMA)
INSpire (Indiana's Virtual Library)
INSpire for Kids
**Teacher's Resource Guide to INSpire
Important note
The information provided on this site is not intended to replace consultation with a medical professional, but to complement your conversation with your medical providers. Additionally, the information provided does not consitute an endorsement of any particular product or intervention. The intent is simply to provide information that has been evaluated by information scientists and experts in these content areas.
