A comparison of the readability of two patient-reported outcome measures used to evaluate foot surgery

Measuring the outcome of surgical intervention is an integral part of modern-day healthcare provision. The increasing requirement to monitor patient-reported outcomes highlights the need for patients to be able to read and understand health outcomes questionnaires. The present study compared the readability of 2 commonly used, validated, foot surgery outcome questionnaires (the Foot Health Status Questionnaire and the Manchester-Oxford Foot Questionnaire) using the Flesch Reading Ease score and the Flesch-Kincaid grade level score. The Manchester-Oxford Foot Questionnaire had a significantly greater (p < .003) score for reading ease and a significantly lower reading grade score (p < .005) than the Foot Health Status Questionnaire. These findings suggest the Manchester-Oxford Foot Questionnaire is a more suitable instrument in terms of readability and comprehension for a greater proportion of the population undergoing hallux valgus surgery.