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Readability of patient and family education materials on pediatric surgical association websites
Lawrence Willis1,2, Ankush Gosain3,4,5
1Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
Insights
Patient education materials on pediatric surgical association websites are often written at a high school reading level, making them difficult for families to understand. Improving readability and offering multilingual options are recommended solutions.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Surgery
- Health Literacy
- Medical Education
Background:
- Pediatric surgical association websites offer patient/family education on numerous conditions.
- Materials cover condition descriptions, symptoms, diagnostics, and treatments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the readability of patient/family education materials on global pediatric surgical association websites.
Main Methods:
- Accessed patient/family education materials from international pediatric surgical association websites.
- Utilized multiple grade-level and readability assessments (e.g., Flesch Reading Ease).
Main Results:
- Materials on the American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA) and British Association of Paediatric Surgeons (BAPS) websites were analyzed.
- APSA materials (74 conditions) were written at a high school reading level.
- BAPS materials (6 conditions) were generally more readable than APSA's; no non-English materials were found.
Conclusions:
- Patient education materials on pediatric surgical websites may be too complex for the general public.
- Recommendations include rewriting materials for improved readability and providing translations into other languages.
Purpose:
Globally, pediatric surgical association websites present patient/family education materials on an extensive list of conditions, including descriptions of the condition, signs and symptoms, diagnostic modalities, and treatment options. The purpose of this project was to assess the readability of pediatric surgical association websites' patient/family education materials.
Methods:
With IRB approval, we accessed all patient/family education materials on pediatric surgical association websites from around the globe and used multiple grade-level assessments and readability assessments to determine the reading level at which the information is presented.
Results:
The American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA) website and the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons (BAPS) present publicly accessible patient/family education materials. Seventy-four (74) conditions on APSA's website were analyzed. Three grade-level assessments and the Flesch Reading Ease assessment indicated that the articles are written at high school reading levels. No articles were available in languages other than English. BAPS presented 6 conditions, most of which were more readable than their APSA counterparts.
Conclusions:
Our analysis indicates that the patient/family education materials available on pediatric surgical association websites may not be written at a level that is comprehensible by the general population. Potential solutions include re-writing the materials with an emphasis on readability and presenting materials in languages other than English.
Level Of Evidence:
V.
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