The readability of American Academy of Pediatrics patient education brochures

Freda, Margaret Comerford

doi:10.1016/j.pedhc.2005.01.013

Cited by 95 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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Section: Mismatch Between Health Literacy Function and Demandmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…12 Most patient education materials and health system forms -including cancer-related materials -are written at an unacceptably high reading level. [13][14][15] To further assess whether a mismatch exists between "average" user skills and commonly available materials, we developed a tool to examine the literacy demands of health information materials such as newspaper and magazine articles, health education brochures, insurance forms, and test result notifications.Many instruments (such as Fry, 16 SMOG,17 and FleschKincaid 18 ) have been developed to examine readability, but few examine constructs of format (organization, layout, structure and/or programming type), tone (mood created by writing style), accuracy of content, or use of terms such as medical phrases. …”

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confidence: 99%

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Health Literacy Demands of Written Health Information Materials: An Assessment of Cervical Cancer Prevention Materials

et al. 2009

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(DH, CH, NO); and the Behavior Change Research Group, Population Sciences and Cancer Control Program (DH, JC) at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Submitted August 14, 2007; accepted February 26, 2008. Address correspondence to Deborah Helitzer, ScD, Family and Community Medicine, University of New Mexico, MSC 09-5040, Albuquerque, NM 87131. E-mail: helitzer@salud.unm pitalization have been documented. [1][2][3] Evidence demonstrates that patients with lower health literacy incur higher health care costs, 1,4 and health literacy has been linked to lower use of preventive services such as Pap tests, mammograms, and dental care. 5,6 The Institute of Medicine and Healthy People 2010 define health literacy as the "degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions." 7 Functional health literacy requires complex, multidimensional skills, including reading, writing, listening, numeric literacy, oral and visual communication, and decision-making abilities. It also calls for an understanding of health topics (such as cervical cancer) and the ability to navigate health systems. 8,9 Written health education materials and forms, which the health system IntroductionResearch continues to reveal the association between literacy and health. Literacy is defined as "using printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential." 1 Relationships between literacy levels and heart disease, physical health, and rates of hos- most often relies on to convey information and treatment procedures, place certain "demands" on their users or readers. These demands compel health consumers to use their functional health literacy skills to read (at different levels), interpret, comprehend, analyze, and apply the information they gain from these written materials. These demands may be substantial if materials are written at a high reading level, if text and format are too dense, or if concepts are ambiguous and nonmotivating.Thus, health literacy is not a one-sided issue, limited to the capacity or capabilities of the patient/client. Indeed, the health system itself places complex demands on health consumers. These demands include requiring people to self-manage their health care, read difficult texts, and understand their health rights, as well as obliging them to find their way (navigate) in confusing clinic/hospital settings with technical medical signs or without conveniently placed or easy to read maps. 10 National Literacy AssessmentsIn 2003, the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) was conducted in the United States with more than 19,000 adults. The NAAL included a separate literacy component intended to measure adults' ability to use literacy skills to read and understand health-related information. The results indicated that most (53%) adults had intermediate health literacy, and 12% scored in the proficient range. The...

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Section: Mismatch Between Health Literacy Function and Demandmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Health Literacy Demands of Written Health Information Materials: An Assessment of Cervical Cancer Prevention Materials

et al. 2009

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“…Studies have consistently found written materials in other health promotion areas exceed these levels, sometimes substantially (e.g., Andrus & Roth, 2002;D'Alessandro, Kingsley, & Johnson-West, 2001;Freda, 2005;Freda, Damus, & Merkatz, 1999;Greenfield, Sugarman, Nargiso, & Weiss, 2005;Hendrickson, Huebner, & Riedy, 2006;Marques et al, in press;Neuhauser et al, 2013;Pizur-Barekow, Patrick, Rhyner, Cashin, & Rentmeester, 2011;Pizur-Barnekow, Patrick, Rhyner, Folk, & Anderson, 2010). No research however, has assessed the readability of parent sexual communication materials.…”

Section: Parents As Sexuality Educatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While Flesch-Kincaid is highly correlated to other readability formulas, computer-calculated scores recognize each period as the end of a sentence, which can lead to improper coding of abbreviations, numbers with decimals, and punctuated lists, and result in underestimated assessments of text complexity (Friedman & Hoffman-Goetz, 2006;Weiss, 2007). One of the primary readability formulas used to assess health information, FleschKincaid has been used to evaluate a wide range of health-related print and web-based materials (Cochrane, Gregory, & Wilson, 2012;McInnes & Haglund, 2011), including psychometric instruments on HIV risk (Balogun et al, 2010) and brochures on cancer prevention, treatment and therapy (F. Wilson, Baker, Brown-Syed, & Gollop, 2000), pediatric patient education (Freda, 2005 (Friedman & Hoffman-Goetz, 2006). The…”

Section: Readability Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Readability of Educational Materials to Support Parent Sexual Communication With Their Children and Adolescents

Suleiman

Lin

Constantine

2016

Journal of Health Communication

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“…Since most information on the Internet is acquired by search engines [9,24] we chose to assess the quality of information available on the Internet specifically for De Quervain's tendinitis. We utilized a similar model to that performed by Dy and colleagues for lateral epicondylitis [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Internet as a Source of Information for De Quervain's Tendinitis

Heap

Dezfuli

Bennett

et al. 2014

Hand (New York, N,Y.)

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Background Many individuals are turning to the Internet for information about various health conditions, and in our study we evaluated the quality and readability of information on the internet about De Quervain's tendinitis. Methods We chose the search terms "De Quervain's Tendinitis," "De Quervain's Tenosynovitis," and "De Quervain's Syndrome," and entered them into the search engines "Google," "Bing," and "Yahoo" and compiled the search results. The websites were then evaluated and assigned a quality score, a Flesch-Kincaid (FK) reading level, and a subjective quality score. They were then grouped according to the search term used, search engine used, and the order (priority) returned by the search engines. ANOVA analysis and pairwise comparisons of quality and readability among groups, as well as correlation analysis were performed. Results The FK readability average was 10.3, above the recommended level. The search term De Quervain's tenosynovitis returned the highest objective quality results. There was no statistical difference found between the different search engines. The first 10 results from the searches were of higher quality than results 11-20, and there was a positive correlation between objective and subjective quality scores but no correlation between readability and objective quality. Conclusions We concluded that quality information about De Quervain's tendinitis is available on the internet and is most likely to be found using the search term De Quervain's tenosynovitis and in the first 10 results of an internet search. However, most information is written above the recommended 6th grade reading level.

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The readability of American Academy of Pediatrics patient education brochures

Cited by 95 publications

References 15 publications

Health Literacy Demands of Written Health Information Materials: An Assessment of Cervical Cancer Prevention Materials

Health Literacy Demands of Written Health Information Materials: An Assessment of Cervical Cancer Prevention Materials

Readability of Educational Materials to Support Parent Sexual Communication With Their Children and Adolescents

The Internet as a Source of Information for De Quervain's Tendinitis

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