J Korean Soc Med Inform.  2009 Mar;15(1):31-40.

A Study for Building a System of Consumer Vocabulary for Health Information

• Shin Y
• Kim J

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The purposes of this study were to identify the difference between consumer vocabulary and medical vocabulary in terms of health information; to understand the features of consumer vocabulary; and to contribute by building a system that is able to link consumer vocabulary with medical vocabulary.
METHODS
Data collection was conducted using articles in the knowledge corner of a portal web-site. A total of 43,304 health-related terms (total terms extracted) were collected as objects of this study and these terms were analyzed for their mapping rate and frequency of use (the repeated number of a term).
RESULTS
The rate of mapping between the consumer vocabulary for health information and the medical vocabulary was not high. However, the number of "unmapped terms" was decreased by linking terms having similar forms to "preferred terms" and by extending synonyms.
CONCLUSION
Linking with preferred terms and extending synonyms are, thus, required to increase the mapping rate between consumer vocabulary for health information and medical vocabulary, and the terms that consumers use are essential to further be researched in order to understand their morphology and features; hence, increasing consumer accessibility to the medical field.

Keyword

Consumer Vocabulary; Medical Vocabulary; Health Information; Mapping; Preferred Terms; Synonyms

MeSH Terms

Data Collection
Vocabulary*

Figure

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  Figure 1 Steps for classification of consumer vocabulary and selection of preferred terms

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  Figure 2 Mapping process between consumer vocabulary and medical vocabulary

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