title: [Suitability and readability assessment of printed educational materials on hypertension].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to assess the suitability and readability of printed educational materials for patients with hypertension in Korea.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 33 written educational materials related to hypertension were collected from public health centers, hospitals, and internet web site. Among them, we analyzed 19 materials which fit the inclusion criteria: leaflets (n=9), booklets (n=3), and guide book (n=7). Two trained nurses evaluate the materials using suitability assessment tool (SAM; Doak, Doak, & Root, 1996a) and graded lexical items for teaching Korean (Kim, 2003).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 14 (73.7%) of 19 materials scored adequate, and 5 (26.3%) scored inadequate. On the average, the education materials contained 36.1% to 50.5% of 1st grade reading level words and 12.9% to 21.6% of 4th grade level and over.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The reading level of the materials was higher than a 6th grade reading level. It is proposed that the written educational materials should be developed by health professionals according to suitability and quality by taking the target group's literacy capacity into consideration.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Nursing Policy Research Institute Yonsei University, and Severance Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Tae Wha
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Soo Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Hye Hyun
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: So Ra
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Woo
authors.forename: Sinhye
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D018864:Cultural Diversity; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D020380:Needs Assessment; D010174:Pamphlets; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D011932:Reading; D013664:Teaching Materials / Q000592:standards*