Department of Educational Psychology, and Foundations, University of Northern Iowa, IA, USA.
Health Commun. 2012;27(4):344-55. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2011.586987. Epub 2011 Sep 14.
The comprehension of numerical concepts that appear in written health educational materials is an important aspect of health literacy. Health materials that include many advanced numerical concepts may place high demands on readers, especially those with low health literacy levels. The purpose of this study was to examine and document the types of numerical concepts that appear in passages selected from written diabetes educational materials that varied in their type of content. Readability of the passages was also analyzed. One hundred and fifty passages of 100 words each were selected from 50 diabetes-related educational documents, produced by major health organizations. Passages were coded for type of numerical concept, SMOG Reading Grade Level, Flesch Reading Ease, and features that elaborated the numerical concepts, such as pictures or explanations. Findings indicate that passages containing general information about diabetes and its prevention contained significantly more advanced numerical concepts, the highest reading grade level, the lowest reading ease scores, and the lowest frequency of elaborative features, relative to many other types of content. Recommendations are made for enhancing the presentation of numerical concepts in written diabetes educational materials.
对书面健康教育材料中出现的数字概念的理解是健康素养的一个重要方面。包含许多高级数字概念的健康材料可能会对读者提出很高的要求，尤其是那些健康素养水平较低的读者。本研究的目的是检查和记录从不同类型内容的书面糖尿病教育材料中选择的段落中出现的数字概念的类型。还分析了段落的可读性。从主要卫生组织编写的 50 篇糖尿病相关教育文件中，各选取了 100 字的 150 段文字。对段落进行了数字概念类型、SMOG 阅读水平、Flesch 阅读舒适度以及详细阐述数字概念的特征（如图片或解释）的编码。结果表明，与许多其他类型的内容相比，包含有关糖尿病及其预防的一般信息的段落包含了更多的高级数字概念、更高的阅读水平、更低的阅读舒适度得分以及更简洁的阐述特征。针对如何改进书面糖尿病教育材料中数字概念的呈现方式提出了建议。
