Assessment of Preferences for Delivery of Spine Care Information: A ChatGPT and Survey-Based Study

Study DesignSurvey-based study.ObjectiveTo identify how to effectively tailor spine care information to different educational backgrounds, beyond general readability.MethodsAn internet-based survey (Connect™, CloudResearch) recruited 600 U.S. adults evenly distributed across age brackets (18-80). Participants were presented with six clinical scenarios, each with a question, five answer choices, and asked to choose the most sensible answer. ChatGPT-4 generated five response levels per question, scored with the Flesch Reading Ease scale to represent varying educational or readability levels. Chi-squared tests and standardized residual analysis compared preferred reading levels across education groups.ResultsOf the 600 participants (mean age 45 ± 15.7, 50.8% female), preferred selections were postgraduate (50.6%) and 8th-12th grade levels (22.1%). Bachelor's degree holders significantly favored postgraduate-level content (55.3%), while postgraduate respondents predominantly preferred 8th-12th grade or simpler (56.2%). Participants with less than a bachelor's degree similarly preferred 8th-12th grade or lower (53.5%). Standardized residual analysis revealed bachelor's participants selected postgraduate content more frequently than expected, whereas postgraduate and below-bachelor participants selected it less than expected.ConclusionsWhile postgraduate-level responses were the most frequently selected overall, preferences varied substantially by education level. Both postgraduate and below-bachelor participants tended to favor simpler content, while bachelor's-level respondents consistently preferred more complex language. These findings underscore that simplifying medical information may improve accessibility across diverse educational backgrounds. When tailoring content by education level is not feasible, aiming for an 8th-12th grade reading level may offer the most effective balance between clarity and comprehensiveness in spine care communication.