How Effective Are Patient Education Materials in Educating Patients?

Area of Science:

• Health Professions
• Medical Education
• Patient Communication

Background:

• Effective patient education materials are crucial for health literacy.
• Nurses and physicians play a key role in developing patient information.
• Assessing the quality of these materials is essential for improving patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the qualitative properties of patient education materials.
• To assess readability, understandability, and actionability of materials.
• To identify areas for improvement in patient education resources.

Main Methods:

• 38 patient education materials from a Turkish university hospital were analyzed.
• Readability was assessed using Atesman and Cetinkaya formulas.
• Understandability and actionability were evaluated using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT).

Main Results:

• 55.3% of materials were moderately difficult to read.
• 81.6% had instructional-level readability (U.S. Grades 8-9).
• Materials demonstrated moderate to low understandability and actionability.

Conclusions:

• Patient education materials assessed had moderate readability.
• Understandability and actionability levels were moderate to low.
• Enhancing these materials can improve patient engagement and adherence.