Readability of Online Patient Education Materials From the AAOS Web Site

Sabharwal, Sanjeev; Badarudeen, Sameer; Kunju, Shebna Unes

doi:10.1007/s11999-008-0193-8

Cited by 129 publications

(163 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

161

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Step-by-step approach to assess readability of a given text with Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade using Microsoft 1 Word 1 Office software [4,47] Step Instructions One of the main criticisms against the use of readability tools is that improving readability by simplifying text may make information too simple and difficult to convey accurate information [51]. Although there have been many studies suggesting improving reading ease of patient education articles enhances health outcomes [1,9,20,24,32,44], two studies show improving reading ease failed to improve patients' comprehension of health-related information [34,38].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several healthcare agencies have recommended readability of patient education materials should not be higher than sixth-to eighth-grade level [11,44,52]. However, most of the available patient education materials in orthopaedics are written at a reading level that does not meet these standards and may be too complex for comprehension by a substantial proportion of the population [4,47,48,50].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Assessing Readability of Patient Education Materials: Current Role in Orthopaedics

Badarudeen

Sabharwal²

2010

Clinical Orthopaedics &Amp; Related Research

Self Cite

428

433

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Health literacy is the single best predictor of an individual's health status. It is important to customize health-related education material to the individual patient's level of reading skills. Readability of a given text is the objective measurement of the reading skills one should possess to understand the written material. Questions/purposes In this article, some of the commonly used readability assessment tools are discussed and guidelines to improve the comprehension of patient education handouts are provided. Where are we now? Several healthcare organizations have recommended the readability of patient education materials be no higher than sixth-to eighth-grade level. However, most of the patient education materials currently available on major orthopaedic Web sites are written at a reading level that may be too advanced for comprehension by a substantial proportion of the population. Where do we need to go? There are several readily available and validated tools for assessing the readability of written materials. While use of audiovisual aids such as video clips, line drawings, models, and charts can enhance the comprehension of a health-related topic, standard readability tools cannot construe such enhancements. How do we get there? Given the variability in the capacity to comprehend health-related materials among individuals seeking orthopaedic care, stratifying the contents of patient education materials at different levels of complexity will likely improve health literacy and enhance patient-centered communication.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Readability of Patient Education Materials: Current Role in Orthopaedics

Badarudeen

Sabharwal²

2010

Clinical Orthopaedics &Amp; Related Research

Self Cite

428

433

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As suggested by several past studies, patient education materials may be too complex for some individuals to comprehend [2,5,17,22,38,47,54,58].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Most American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ Online Patient Education Material Exceeds Average Patient Reading Level

Eltorai

Sharma

Wang

et al. 2015

Clinical Orthopaedics &Amp; Related Research

107

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Advancing health literacy has the potential to improve patient outcomes. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons' (AAOS) online patient education materials serve as a tool to improve health literacy for orthopaedic patients; however, it is unknown whether the materials currently meet the National Institutes of Health/ American Medical Association's recommended sixth grade readability guidelines for health information or the mean US adult reading level of eighth grade. Questions/purposes The purposes of this study were (1) to evaluate the mean grade level readability of online AAOS patient education materials; and (2) to determine what proportion of the online materials exceeded recommended (sixth grade) and mean US (eighth grade) reading level.Methods Reading grade levels for 99.6% (260 of 261) of the online patient education entries from the AAOS were analyzed using the Flesch-Kincaid formula built into Microsoft Word software. Results Mean grade level readability of the AAOS patient education materials was 9.2 (SD ± 1.6). Two hundred fifty-one of the 260 articles (97%) had a readability score above the sixth grade level. The readability of the AAOS articles exceeded the sixth grade level by an average of 3.2 grade levels. Of the 260 articles, 210 (81%) had a readability score above the eighth grade level, which is the average reading level of US adults. Conclusions Most of the online patient education materials from the AAOS had readability levels that are far too advanced for many patients to comprehend. Efforts to adjust the readability of online education materials to the needs of the audience may improve the health literacy of orthopaedic patients. Patient education materials can be made more comprehensible through use of simpler terms, shorter sentences, and the addition of pictures. More broadly, all health websites, not just those of the AAOS, should aspire to be comprehensible to the typical reader.

show abstract

“…After both reading grade level and quality scores were assigned, the websites were grouped according to search term used, search engine used, order of results (whether the website was found in the first 10 websites of a search or [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], by How would you rate the overall quality the of website in gaining an understanding of the problem? 5-Very good, 4-Good, 3-Fair, 2-Poor, 1-Very poor One point was assigned for each item if the website contained that information.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The grouping of reading level and subjective score was to see if there was a correlation between each of these and the objective quality of the website. The grouping of order of website results was performed to determine if those websites found on the first page after a search (i.e., websites 1-10) were of higher quality than those from later pages (i.e., websites [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. The top 10 and bottom 10 results from the original searches, from all search terms and search engines, were stratified and compared.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

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.)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Readability of Online Patient Education Materials From the AAOS Web Site

Cited by 129 publications

References 21 publications

Assessing Readability of Patient Education Materials: Current Role in Orthopaedics

Assessing Readability of Patient Education Materials: Current Role in Orthopaedics

Most American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ Online Patient Education Material Exceeds Average Patient Reading Level

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

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About