Web-Based Patient Educational Material on Osteosarcoma: Quantitative Assessment of Readability and Understandability

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Health Communication
• Digital Health

Background:

• Patients diagnosed with osteosarcoma frequently seek information online.
• Health information should be written at a 6th-grade reading level or lower for optimal public understanding, per AMA and NIH guidelines.
• Previous assessments of osteosarcoma web resources have not evaluated their understandability or actionability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the readability, understandability, and actionability of web-based osteosarcoma patient education materials.

Main Methods:

• Searched "osteosarcoma" on Google, collecting the top 50 results from two independent searches.
• Included websites providing patient education on osteosarcoma.
• Quantified readability using Flesh-Kincaid Grade Ease (FKGE) and Flesch-Kincaid Grade-Level (FKGL) algorithms.
• Assessed understandability and actionability using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT), with a threshold of 70% for adequate scores.

Main Results:

• 37 unique websites met inclusion criteria.
• Mean FKGE was 40.8 and mean FKGL was 12.0; no sites met recommended reading levels.
• Only 4% (understandability) and 3% (actionability) of websites met the acceptable threshold.
• Understandability and actionability positively correlated with FKGE but not other readability metrics or Google rank.

Conclusions:

• Web-based osteosarcoma patient education materials demonstrate poor readability, understandability, and actionability.
• No resources met recommended reading levels, and few were deemed understandable or actionable.
• Authors should utilize PEMAT and readability metrics to enhance online patient resources for better comprehension and engagement.