How to Choose and Develop Written Educational Materials

Education is a key component of comprehensive rehabilitation care because it helps promote clients' healthy behaviors and recovery from diseases and injuries or adaptation to chronic conditions. Choosing to use written, organization-based, commercially generated, and Internet-based educational materials is dependent on credibility, readability, and availability. If these materials are unsuitable or no appropriate information on a topic is available, the decision to adapt existing material or design new materials must be made. Recommendations for developing readable materials center on having a clear purpose for writing about a topic; listening to patients; presenting accurate information that reflects accepted, common practice; and using a clear writing style. The strategies presented in this article are intended to help nurses and other healthcare professionals choose or develop educational materials for patients and their family members.