Alla Keselman|Tony Tse|Jon Crowell|Allen C. Browne|Long Ngo|Qing Zeng
Assessing Consumer Health Vocabulary Familiarity: An Exploratory Study
United States National Library of Medicine|Aquilent (United States)|United States National Library of Medicine|Brigham and Women's Hospital|Harvard University|United States National Library of Medicine|Brigham and Women's Hospital|Harvard University|Brigham and Women's Hospital|Harvard University
background accurate assessment difficulty consumer health texts prerequisite improving readabilitygeneral purpose readability formulas based primarily word length well suited health domain short technical terms may unfamiliar consumersto address need previously developed regression model predicting average familiarity consumer health vocabulary chv termsobjective primary goal evaluate ability chv term familiarity model predict 1 surfacelevel familiarity healthrelated terms 2 understanding underlying meaning concept familiarity among actual consumerssecondary goals involved exploring effect demographic factors eg health literacy surfacelevel conceptlevel familiarity describing relationship two levels familiaritymethods survey instruments assessing surfacelevel familiarity 45 items conceptlevel familiarity 15 items developedall participants also completed demographic survey standardized health literacy assessment stofhlaresults based surveys completed 52 consumers linear regression suggests predicted chv term familiarity statistically significantly predictor p 001 participants surfacelevel conceptlevel familiarity performancehealth literacy statistically significant predictor surfacelevel familiarity scores p 001its effect conceptlevel familiarity scores warrants investigation p 006educational level significant predictor either type familiarityparticipant scores indicated conceptualization lagged behind recognition especially terms predicted likely familiar p 006conclusions exploratory study suggests chv term familiarity model predictive consumer recognition understanding terms health domainpotential uses model include readability formulas tailored consumer health domain tools translate professional medical documents text accessible consumersthe study also highlights usefulness distinguishing surfacelevel term familiarity deeper concept understanding presents one method assessing familiarity level