School of Education, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia.
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Health Promot J Austr. 2023 Apr;34(2):595-602. doi: 10.1002/hpja.610. Epub 2022 May 13.
This study evaluated the readability of web pages from two public-facing Victorian government websites that were responsible for communicating key health messages relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Webpages were downloaded and filtered to identify relevant materials (English language materials containing HTML files that referred to COVID-19). The files were converted to text files and two Python packages, SpaCy and TextStat were used to obtain the data presented here. In addition to running two well-established readability tests, SMOG Index (Simple Measure of Gobbledygook) and Flesch Reading Ease formula, we also calculated the figures for sentence length and word length, which drive the readability measures and allow a disaggregated view of the data. Type token ratio measures were conducted as a reflection of the breadth of vocabulary used in the web pages.
Derived measures of text complexity were higher than recommended levels of text complexity for health promotion materials, which are generally set at senior primary school levels. This did not vary depending on the intended audience (public or professional). A senior secondary reading level was required for effective engagement with the text published on both sites.
Improving the readability of materials on key government websites where information about COVID-19 is being communicated to the public, represents a low cost and potentially effective means of improving public understanding of the pandemic and the steps individuals need to take to protect themselves and the community. SO WHAT?: Given the challenges widely identified in ensuring compliance with protective behaviours, confidence in seeking vaccination and increasing distrust of government, it would be strategic to improve public communication to ensure health messages are simple and readily understood.
The complexity and readability of text contained in web pages during 2020 from two Victorian government departments were evaluated. Communication regarding the restrictions and the management of risks associated with COVID-19 was the main focus of these 367 individual web pages from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the Department of Education and Training (DET). Results indicated that across both sites and on both readability measures used, an education level equivalent to senior secondary school would be required to readily understand the contents.
本研究评估了两个面向公众的维多利亚州政府网站网页的可读性，这两个网站在 2020 年负责传播与 COVID-19 大流行相关的关键健康信息。
下载网页并进行筛选，以识别相关材料（包含 HTML 文件且提及 COVID-19 的英文语言材料）。将文件转换为文本文件，并使用两个 Python 包，SpaCy 和 TextStat 来获取此处呈现的数据。除了运行两个成熟的可读性测试（SMOG 指数（简单测测胡言乱语度）和 Flesch 阅读舒适度公式）之外，我们还计算了句子长度和单词长度的数字，这些数字推动了可读性的衡量，并允许对数据进行细分。类型令牌比衡量反映了网页中使用的词汇广度。
文本复杂性的衍生衡量标准高于健康促进材料的推荐文本复杂性水平，一般设定为小学高年级水平。这与目标受众（公众或专业人士）无关。要有效阅读两个网站上发布的文本，需要具备高中阅读水平。
改善在主要政府网站上传播 COVID-19 信息的材料的可读性，是一种低成本且潜在有效的方法，可以提高公众对大流行的理解，以及个人保护自己和社区所需采取的措施。
鉴于广泛确定的确保遵守保护行为、对疫苗接种的信心以及对政府的不信任等方面的挑战，改善公共沟通以确保健康信息简单易懂将具有战略意义。
评估了 2020 年来自维多利亚州两个政府部门的网页的复杂性和可读性。这些来自卫生和人类服务部（DHHS）和教育和培训部（DET）的 367 个网页主要关注与 COVID-19 相关的限制和风险管理的沟通。结果表明，在两个网站上，使用两种可读性衡量标准，都需要高中以上的教育水平才能轻松理解内容。
