title: Readability of Online Patient Educational Materials on Pain Management.
abstract: Low health literacy is associated with a poorer ability to understand and follow health instructions and advice, poorer health outcomes, and poorer use of health care services. Patients with low health literacy have difficulty accessing and understanding online health materials that are not written in plain language. This study assessed the readability of patient education materials that are focused on pain, a significant contributor to clinical outcomes after orthopaedic surgery. Results revealed that the overall mean readability level of the documents that were accessed online was higher than the 10th grade. Efforts should focus on making patient education easier to understand for the nearly 80 million Americans who struggle with health literacy.
authors.affiliation: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas.
authors.forename: Asa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shnaekel
authors.forename: Kristie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hadden
authors.forename: C Lowry
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Barnes
mesh_terms: D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D057220:Health Literacy; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D059408:Pain Management; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D013664:Teaching Materials