BACKGROUND
Plain language summaries (PLS) are intended to provide readers with a clear, non-technical, and easily understandable overview of medical and scientific literature; however, audience preferences for specific PLS format have yet to be fully explored.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the preferred readability level and format for PLS of medical journal articles across different disease states, with online audiences from various age groups.
METHODS
Articles describing phase III clinical trials from top-level, peer-reviewed journals published between May 2016–May 2018 were identified for three disease states representing a range of patient age groups (psoriasis, a skin disease [younger patients]; multiple sclerosis [MS], a nerve-based disease [middle-aged patients]; and rheumatoid arthritis [RA], a painful joint disease [older patients]). Four PLS were developed for each article: three as text only (written with high-, medium-, and low-complexity) and one as an infographic. To evaluate each of the four PLS formats, a 20-question survey (specific to one of the three diseases) was sent to a representative sample, via UK-based patient association websites, Twitter, and Facebook patient groups. A weighted-average calculation was applied to responders’ ranked preferences for each PLS format.
RESULTS
Across all three diseases, the weighted-average preference scores showed that infographics (psoriasis=2.91; MS=2.71; RA=2.78) and medium-complexity text PLS (reading age: 14–17 years, US Grade 9–11; psoriasis=2.90; MS=2.47; RA=2.77) were the two most-preferred PLS formats in each case.
CONCLUSIONS
Audience preferences should be accounted for when preparing PLS to accompany original peer-reviewed research articles. Oversimplified text can be viewed negatively, and infographic versions or medium-complexity text appear to be the most popular.