Accessible Communication in Psychological Evaluation Reports: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Psychologists' evaluation reports communicate diagnoses, findings, and recommendations that guide educational and health decisions for children and adolescents. Research has long shown that many of these reports are technical, test-focused, and hard for families, educators, and clinicians to use. This systematic review and meta-analysis pooled experiments in which readers compared accessible and traditional versions of the same, or closely matched, evaluation information. It included 14 experiments (N = 1,283 readers) across educational and clinical settings. Accessible reports used plain language, clearer organization, concrete examples, and reduced technical terminology, whereas traditional reports used technical language and conventional test-by-test organization. Accessible reports improved reader outcomes, with a moderate-to-large benefit (Hedges' g = 0.83, 95% confidence interval [0.60, 1.06]). Every experiment favored the accessible version. Accessible report writing is an evidence-supported communication practice for psychological evaluation reports.