Readability of selected governmental and popular health organization websites on Covid-19 public health information: A descriptive analysis

Abstract

Background: The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (USDHHS) recommends that health material be written at or below a sixth-grade reading level to ensure readability. The aim of this study was to examine the readability of international and national health organizations on Covid-19 information in their websites employing a previously validated tool. Methods: A purposive sample of publicly accessible governmental and popular international health organization websites was selected. The readability of the websites Covid-19 public health information was estimated using the previously validated SMOG readability formula, which determined reading level by correlating the number of polysyllabic words. Results: Of the 10 websites included in the analysis, none had Covid-19 public health information at the USDHHS recommended reading level. The material ranged in reading level at undergraduate level or above. Discussion: The findings indicate that the online Covid-19 materials need to be modified in order to reach recommended reading levels. This study can be of practical use to policy makers and public health government officials when designing, modifying, and evaluating Covid-19 materials. We recommend using simple, non-polysyllable words to ensure that Covid-19 public health information materials are written at the recommended reading levels.

An evaluation of the quality of COVID‐19 websites in terms of HON principles and using DISCERN tool

“…According to the increasing prevalence of COVID‐19, people, clinicians, epidemiologists and researchers need to improve their awareness and information on preventing the infection, COVID‐19's symptoms, its various effective treatments and medications, screening rules, related projects performed by researchers, the infection statistics and figures in different countries. Therefore, most websites in this regard were found to be related to informative dashboards and epidemic meters (Ojo et al, 2020 ). Some included websites can provide valid information to the public, clinicians and epidemiologists' audiences on how this virus spreads, how it permeates and how it transmits.…”

“…Some included websites can provide valid information to the public, clinicians and epidemiologists' audiences on how this virus spreads, how it permeates and how it transmits. Policy‐makers and health care providers have been able to provide appropriate and effective public information for ordinary people in the community, so they can meet all their needs regarding having information about COVID‐19 disease (Ojo et al, 2020 ). The target population in this investigation and in others (Flint et al, 2021 ; Ojo et al, 2020 ; Yu, 2021 ) are all individuals who get benefit from publishing information through the electronic platform and websites.…”

“…Policy‐makers and health care providers have been able to provide appropriate and effective public information for ordinary people in the community, so they can meet all their needs regarding having information about COVID‐19 disease (Ojo et al, 2020 ). The target population in this investigation and in others (Flint et al, 2021 ; Ojo et al, 2020 ; Yu, 2021 ) are all individuals who get benefit from publishing information through the electronic platform and websites. However, the meaning of information in this research refers to a piece of general knowledge that can be provided to different people who are at different scientific levels.…”