Readability assessment of Internet-based patient education materials related to endoscopic sinus surgery.
OBJECTIVE
Numerous professional societies, clinical practices, and hospitals provide Internet-based patient education materials (PEMs) to the general public, but not all of this information is written at a reading level appropriate for the average patient. The National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Health and Human Services recommend that PEMs be written at or below the sixth-grade level. Our purpose was to assess the readability of endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS)-related PEMs available on the Internet and compare readability levels of PEMs provided by three sources: professional societies, clinical practices, and hospitals.


METHODS
A descriptive and correlational design was used for this study.


METHODS
The readability of 31 ESS-related PEMs was assessed with four different readability indices: Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL), Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES), Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG), and Gunning Frequency of Gobbledygook (Gunning FOG). Averages were evaluated against national recommendations and between each source using analysis of variance and t tests.


RESULTS
The majority of PEMs (96.8%) were written above the recommended sixth-grade reading level, based on FKGL (P < .001). Only one article (3.2%) had an FKGL at or below the sixth-grade level. The mean readability values were: FRES 47.1 ± 13.4, FKGL 10.7 ± 2.4, SMOG 13.7 ± 1.6, and Gunning FOG 12.4 ± 2.7.


CONCLUSIONS
Current Internet-based PEMs related to ESS, regardless of source type, were written well above the recommended sixth-grade level. Materials from the hospitals/university-affiliated websites had lower readability scores, but were still above recommended levels. Web-based PEMs pertaining to ESS should be written with the average patient in mind.
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
Deepa V
DV
Cherla
Saurin
S
Sanghvi
Osamah J
OJ
Choudhry
James K
JK
Liu
Jean Anderson
JA
Eloy
D000328:Adult; D032882:Comprehension / Q000145:classification; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods*; D004522:Educational Status; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000145:classification; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D010256:Paranasal Sinuses / Q000601:surgery*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States