Katie Dalziel|Michael Leveridge|Stephen Steele|Jason Izard
An analysis of the readability of patient information materials for common urological conditions
Queen's University
health literacy shown important determinant outcomes numerous disease states effort improve health literacy canadian urological association cua publishes freely accessible patient information materials pims common urological conditions sought evaluate readability cuas pimsall pims accessed cua website flesch reading ease score fres fleschkincaid grade level fkgl number educational graphics determined pim low fres scores high fkgl scores associated difficulttoread text average readability values calculated pim category based cuadefined subject categorizes five pamphlets highest fkgl scores revised using word substitutions complex multisyllabic words reanalyzed kruskalwallis test used identify readability differences pim categories paired ttests used test differences fkgl scores revisionsacross pims fres values low mean 475 standard deviation sd 747 corresponded average fkgl 105 range 81120 among pim categories infertility sexual function pims exhibited highest average fkgl mean 116 however differences scores categories statistically significant p038 average number words per sentence also highest infertility sexual function pims significantly higher categories mean 172 p001 average 14 graphics displayed per pim range 04 vary significantly disease state p0928 simple words substitutions improved readability five difficulttoread pims average 31 grade points p001current patient information materials published cua compare favourably produced organizations may difficult read lowliteracy patients readability levels must balanced required informational needs patients may intrinsically complex