scholarly journals Letter to the Editor: Editorʼs Spotlight/Take 5: Most American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ Online Patient Education Material Exceeds Average Patient Reading Level

2015 ◽  
Vol 473 (9) ◽  
pp. 3059-3060
Author(s):  
Stuart J. Fischer ◽  
Laura Giblin ◽  
Joel L. Mayerson
Keyword(s):  
Patient Education ◽  
American Academy ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Orthopaedic Surgeons ◽  
Patient Education Material ◽  
Education Material ◽  
Letter To The Editor ◽  
Average Patient ◽  
Online Patient Education

Health Literacy: Readability of ACC/AHA Online Patient Education Material

Cardiology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 138 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karan Kapoor ◽  
Praveen George ◽  
Matthew C. Evans ◽  
Weldon J. Miller ◽  
Stanley S. Liu
Keyword(s):  
Patient Education ◽  
Grade Level ◽  
Heart Association ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Patient Education Material ◽  
Education Material ◽  
Reading Grade Level ◽  
8Th Grade ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Online Patient Education

Objectives: To determine whether the online patient education material offered by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) is written at a higher level than the 6th-7th grade level recommended by the National Institute of Health (NIH). Methods: Online patient education material from each website was subjected to reading grade level (RGL) analysis using the Readability Studio Professional Edition. One-sample t testing was used to compare the mean RGLs obtained from 8 formulas to the NIH-recommended 6.5 grade level and 8th grade national mean. Results: In total, 372 articles from the ACC website and 82 from the AHA were studied. Mean (±SD) RGLs for the 454 articles were 9.6 ± 2.1, 11.2 ± 2.1, 11.9 ± 1.6, 10.8 ± 1.6, 9.7 ± 2.1, 10.8 ± 0.8, 10.5 ± 2.6, and 11.7 ± 3.5 according to the Flesch-Kincaid grade level (FKGL), Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG Index), Coleman-Liau Index (CLI), Gunning-Fog Index (GFI), New Dale-Chall reading level formula (NDC), FORCAST, Raygor Readability Estimate (RRE), and Fry Graph (Fry), respectively. All analyzed articles had significantly higher RGLs than both the NIH-recommended grade level of 6.5 and the national mean grade level of 8 (p < 0.00625). Conclusions: Patient education material provided on the ACC and AHA websites is written above the NIH-recommended 6.5 grade level and 8th grade national mean reading level. Additional studies are required to demonstrate whether lowering the RGL of this material improves outcomes among patients with cardiovascular disease.

Assessment of the Readability of Online Patient Education Material from Major Canadian Pediatric Associations (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Man ◽  
Courtney van Ballegooie
Keyword(s):  
Patient Education ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Pediatric Society ◽  
Word Analysis ◽  
Education Material ◽  
Preventative Health ◽  
Grade Reading Level ◽  
Online Patient Education

BACKGROUND Online patient education materials (PEMs) are frequently written above the recommended reading level in North America. Poor PEM readability limits the accessibility of medical information to individuals with average to lower literacy levels. Pediatric hospital and association websites have not only been shown to be a preferred source of information among caregivers but have also become a necessity in the COVID-19 pandemic. The readability of Canadian pediatric association websites has not yet been assessed quantitatively. OBJECTIVE To assess the readability of online Canadian pediatric association PEMs to determine if the content of the material is written at a reading level that the majority of Canadians can understand. METHODS PEMs were extracted from ten Canadian pediatric associations and evaluated for their reading level using ten validated readability scales. Associations underwent a difficult word analysis and cross association comparisons were assessed. RESULTS Online PEMs were identified from three pediatric association websites, where the grade reading level was found to be 8.8 +/- 1.8 for the Caring for Kids website, 9.5 +/- 2.2 for the Pediatric Endocrine Group website and 13.1 +/- 2.1 for the Atlantic Pediatric Society website. The difficulty word analysis identified that 19.9% of words were unfamiliar overall. CONCLUSIONS The online PEMs were found to be written above the recommended seventh grade reading level for Canadians. Consideration should be made to create PEMs at an appropriate grade reading level for both patients and their caregivers to encourage health literacy and ultimately promote preventative health behaviours and child health outcomes.

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