Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia & Paul's Hospital, C303 1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6Z 1Y6, Canada.
Am J Surg. 2021 Jun;221(6):1203-1210. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2021.02.022. Epub 2021 Mar 3.
Guidelines recommend patient health-related information be written at or below the sixth-grade level. This study evaluates the readability level and quality of online appendectomy patient education materials.
Webpages were evaluated using seven readability formulae: Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL), Gunning Fog Index (GFI), Coleman-Liau Index (CLI), Automated Readability Index (ARI), Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG), Flesch Reading Ease (FRE), and New Dale-Chall (NDC). Two evaluators assessed quality using the Brief DISCERN tool.
Thirty seven webpages were analyzed. The mean readability scores were: FKGL = 9.11, GFI = 11.82, CLI = 10.84, ARI = 7.99, SMOG = 11.88, FRE = 51.17, and NDC = 5.48. 6 of the 7 readability formulae indicate that the materials were written at too high a level. The average Brief DISCERN score was 17.81, indicating good quality.
Readability levels for online appendectomy patient education materials are higher than recommended but are of good quality. Authors of such materials should not only provide good quality information but also ensure readability.
指南建议将患者相关的健康信息书写至六年级或以下水平。本研究评估了在线阑尾切除术患者教育材料的可读性和质量。
使用七种可读性公式评估网页：Flesh-Kincaid 年级水平（FKGL）、Gunning Fog 指数（GFI）、Coleman-Liau 指数（CLI）、自动化可读性指数（ARI）、简单文字难度测试（SMOG）、Flesch 阅读舒适度（FRE）和新 Dale-Chall（NDC）。两名评估者使用 Brief DISCERN 工具评估质量。
分析了 37 个网页。平均可读性得分分别为：FKGL=9.11，GFI=11.82，CLI=10.84，ARI=7.99，SMOG=11.88，FRE=51.17，NDC=5.48。7 种可读性公式中的 6 种表明材料的书写水平过高。平均 Brief DISCERN 得分为 17.81，表明质量良好。
在线阑尾切除术患者教育材料的可读性水平高于推荐水平，但质量良好。此类材料的作者不仅应提供高质量的信息，还应确保可读性。
