Readability assessment of online patient education materials provided by the European Association of Urology

Betschart, Patrick; Zumstein, Valentin; Bentivoglio, Maico; Engeler, Daniel S.; Schmid, Hans‐Peter; Abt, Dominik

doi:10.1007/s11255-017-1695-7

Cited by 27 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The importance of readability for commonly used urologic surveys, questionnaires, and reading material has been assessed. [13][14][15][16] However, to our knowledge this the first time it has been demonstrated for the title of a clinic an FPMRS clinic. In our study cohort, the two most preferred titles were at the 6th-grade reading level, despite our survey demographic being mostly college-educated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…We hypothesized that the name of the treatment facility would play a vital part in the public perception of pelvic floor disease and influence how comfortable patients feel in seeking treatment. The importance of readability for commonly used urologic surveys, questionnaires, and reading material has been assessed . However, to our knowledge this the first time it has been demonstrated for the title of a clinic an FPMRS clinic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What's in a name? Choosing a title for a female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery clinic: A prospective questionnaire

Nguyen

Cheung

Berg

et al. 2019

Neurourology and Urodynamics

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Aims:A new multidisciplinary clinic specializing in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery (FPMRS) opened at our institution. We sought to assess patient preference in naming this new center, and how readability and word choice informs these preferences. Methods: We prospectively surveyed patient preference in naming this new center, as well as patient knowledge and societal perception of pelvic floor disorders. This survey was distributed to female patients presenting to general urology and gynecology clinics.Results: There were 300 respondents out of 1000 distributed surveys. Patients preferred titles with accessible readability scores and societally neutral vocabulary. Preferred titles for the clinic were at a 6th-grade readability level. Patients preferred neutral titles that included the word "health" and disliked titles that contained the words "pelvic floor" and "dysfunction." In general, survey participants believed that "incontinence" was associated with negative connotations.Conclusion: Readable and neutral vocabulary in the title of the clinic are key components of patient-preferred titles for an FPMRS clinic and affect patient comfort levels in scheduling an appointment. K E Y W O R D S adult, attitude to health, attitudes, disease management, education, female, health knowledge, health literacy, health surveys, humans, patient acceptance of health care/psychology, patient preference, pelvic floor disorders, perception, practice, quality of life, shame, social stigma, surveys and questionnaires, United States, urinary incontinence/psychology, urinary incontinence/therapy, women's health

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What's in a name? Choosing a title for a female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery clinic: A prospective questionnaire

Nguyen

Cheung

Berg

et al. 2019

Neurourology and Urodynamics

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“…This is relevant, as a previous investigation of the literacy standards of parents leaving a paediatric ED, showed many lacked the capacity to understand college-level information that was provided by some of the resources (Morrison et al, 2013). Materials pitched at school grade 11 standard of literacy may cause difficulties in comprehension, affecting ability to follow instructions and potentially compromising health outcomes (Betschart et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of written resources for parents of children discharged from a paediatric emergency department

Phonpruk

Flowers

Naughton

et al. 2019

J Child Health Care

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The aim of this study was to profile the information and readability of parent-focused resources to support care at home following a child’s discharge from a paediatric emergency department (ED). Analysis included recording the scope, source, readability scores and benchmarking the contents against previous recommendations for discharge information. Information from 46 resources (on 41 conditions) from three separate sources was analysed. Overall, a wide range of resources was available. Inconsistency was evident in the framework and design of resources available. Approximately two-thirds of resources provided information about referral to community resources, and most had links to community health providers. Assessment of readability levels showed a predominant pitch towards a relatively high level of schooling. Existing written resources available for parents to use in caring for their child following discharge from an ED could improve with more streamlined designs as well as consistent references to community resources and additional health providers. Parents with low reading capacity may not be able to make the most of existing resources to care for their child at home following ED discharge. This framework was developed for reviewing the resources that could be useful for quality assessment of other parent-focused discharge information.

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“…However, Berland et al found that removing medical terminology lowered the reading level of health information on studied websites by only 0.3 years (57). Others have found that the readability of patient education material can be improved up to three grade levels by substituting multisyllabic words, adapting sentence structure, and shortening sentences (58)(59)(60). Future work on the readability of parent education materials should consider incorporating this editing process while simultaneously testing whether or not parents comprehend prepared material.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality, Trustworthiness, Readability, and Accuracy of Medical Information Regarding Common Pediatric Emergency Medicine-Related Complaints on the Web

Rothrock

Rothrock²,

Swetland³

et al. 2019

The Journal of Emergency Medicine

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Background: The Internet is a universal source of information for parents of children with acute complaints. Objectives: We sought to analyze information directed at parents regarding common acute pediatric complaints. Methods: Authors searched three search engines for four complaints (child + fever, vomiting, cough, stomach pain), assessing the first 20 results for each query. Readability was evaluated using: Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Gunning Fog, Simple Measure of Gobbledygook, and the Coleman-Liau Index. Two reviewers independently evaluated Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Benchmark Criteria and National Library of Medicine (NLM) Trustworthy scores. Two physicians (emergency medicine/EM, pediatric EM) analyzed text accuracy (number correct divided by total number of facts). Disagreements were settled by a third physician. Accuracy was defined as $ 95% correct, readability as an 8th-grade reading level, high quality as at least three JAMA criteria, and trustworthiness as an NLM score $ 3. Accurate and inaccurate websites were compared using chi-squared analysis and Mann-Whitney U test. Results: Eighty-seven websites (60%) were accurate (k = 0.94). Sixty (42%) of 144 evaluable websites were readable, 38 (26%) had high-quality JAMA criteria (kappa/k = 0.68), and 44 (31%) had reliable NLM trustworthy scores (k = 0.66). Accurate websites were more frequently published by professional medical organizations (hospitals, academic societies, governments) compared with inaccurate websites (63% vs. 33%, p < 0.01). There was no association between accuracy and physician authorship, search rank, quality, trustworthiness, or readability. Conclusion: Many studied websites had inadequate accuracy, quality, trustworthiness, and readability. Measures should be taken to improve web-based information related to acute pediatric complaints.

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Readability assessment of online patient education materials provided by the European Association of Urology

Abstract: The EAU provides carefully worked out PEM for 17 urological topics. Although improved readability compared to similar analyses was found, a simplification of certain chapters might be helpful to facilitate better patient understanding.

Cited by 27 publications

References 21 publications

What's in a name? Choosing a title for a female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery clinic: A prospective questionnaire

What's in a name? Choosing a title for a female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery clinic: A prospective questionnaire

Analysis of written resources for parents of children discharged from a paediatric emergency department

Quality, Trustworthiness, Readability, and Accuracy of Medical Information Regarding Common Pediatric Emergency Medicine-Related Complaints on the Web

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