Journal
ANZ JOURNAL OF SURGERY
Volume 92, Issue 10, Pages 2667-2671Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/ans.17960
Keywords
DDH; osteomyelitis; paediatric orthopaedics; patient educational material; septic arthritis; SUFE; talipes equinovarus
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study assessed the readability levels of pediatric online patient educational materials in Australia and New Zealand, finding that the majority of materials were above recommended standards. Healthcare providers are encouraged to improve the readability of patient educational materials to reduce health disparities and improve health literacy.
Background The role of patient educational materials for paediatric patients is increasing. A reading grade level of eighth-grade (USA) or year nine (Australia and New Zealand) is recommended as acceptable. The aim of this paper was to assess the reading grade levels of paediatric online patient educational materials, within Australasia. Methods The online Google (R) search engine was used with a variety of keyword combinations, filtered to the location of Australia and New Zealand. Suitable websites were explored for webpages related to slipped upper femoral epiphysis, septic arthritis, osteomyelitis, talipes equinovarus and developmental dysplasia of the hip. Readability was assessed using the online readability software WEB FX (R). Results Seventy-six patient educational webpages were analysed: 66 from Australia and 10 from New Zealand. Only eight of the 76 webpages (10.5%) had reading grade levels below the recommended eighth-grade (US)/year nine (AUS/NZ) level. Webpages from private healthcare providers and pages related to septic arthritis had the significantly highest reading grades. Conclusions Australasian families have limited online patient educational materials available to them, which are mostly set at reading grade levels above recommended standards. Healthcare providers should be incentivized to improve the readability of their patient educational materials to reduce health disparities and improve health literacy moving forward.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available