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Health Literacy in Periacetabular Osteotomy Procedure: A Quantitative Assessment of the Readability, Understandability and Actionability of Online Patient Education Material

Health Literacy in Periacetabular Osteotomy Procedure: A Quantitative Assessment of the Readability, Understandability and Actionability of Online Patient Education Material

Alan Shamrock, MD, UNITED STATES Trevor Gulbrandsen, MD, UNITED STATES Burke Gao, MD, UNITED STATES Mary Kate Skalitzky, BA, UNITED STATES Robert W. Westermann, MD, UNITED STATES Michael C. Willey, MD, UNITED STATES

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa, UNITED STATES


2021 Congress   ePoster Presentation     Not yet rated

 

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Summary: PAO surgery materials scored poorly with respect to readability, understandability, and actionability with no resources scoring at or below the AMA/NIH recommended reading level.


Introduction

The American Medical Association (AMA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommend that publicly available online health information to be written at a 6th grade or lower reading level in order to be fully understood by the average adult in the United States. Educational resources should be written such that readers can process key information (understandability) or identify available actions to take (actionability). The purpose of this study was to quantify the readability, understandability, and actionability of online patient educational materials regarding periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) procedure.

Methods

Using the term “PAO surgery”, two independent online searches (Google.com) were performed. The top 50 results from each search were collected. Non-text websites (audiovisual), articles (news/research/industry), and unrelated resources were excluded. Readability was quantified using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade-Level (FKGL) Index. The Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) was utilized to assess understandability and actionability (0-100%). A PEMAT-P score of 70% or below is considered poorly understandable or poorly actionable. The relationship between Google search rank and readability, understandability, and actionability were also examined.

Results

A total of 57 unique websites were identified with the searches, in which 34 met inclusion criteria. Of the included websites 50.00% (n=12) were from academic institutions, 44.12% (n=11) were from private practices, and 5.88% (n=2) were health information publishers. The mean FKGL was 11.25±2.22. Mean understandability and actionability scores were 64.46±12.02 and 27.06±27.58, respectively. Only 29.41% (n=10) and 11.76% (n=4) of websites were above the PEMAT threshold for understandability and actionability. Of the 10 websites that met the understandability threshold, 50% were academic institutions and 50% were private practice. No websites from health information publishers were above the threshold. Higher understandability was associated with earlier Google rank (rho:-0.48; p< 0.01). Readability (rho:-0.14; p=0.43), and actionability (rho: -0.029; p= 0.87) scores were not associated with Google search rank. Interrater reliability demonstrated moderate agreement (kappa: 0.52±0.04, p<0.01).

Conclusion

PAO surgery online materials scored poorly with respect to readability, understandability, and actionability with no resources scoring at the AMA/NIH recommended reading level. Future efforts should be made to improve the readability, understandability and actionability of online resources in order to optimize patient understanding and facilitate informed decision-making.


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