The Swedish Red Cross University, Huddinge, Sweden.
Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2022 May 13;22(1):131. doi: 10.1186/s12911-022-01873-y.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant morbidity and mortality. To mitigate its spread, members in the general population were prompted to apply significant behavioral changes. This required an effective dissemination of understandable information accessible for people with a wide range of literacy backgrounds. The aim of this study was to investigate the readability, understandability and language accessibility of Swedish consumer-oriented websites containing information about COVID-19.
Websites were identified through systematic searches in Google.se (n = 76), and were collected in May 2020 when the pandemic spread started in Sweden. Readability and understandability were assessed with the Readability Index, the Ensuring Quality Information for Patients (EQIP) tool, and the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool Understandability subscale (PEMAT-PU).
The median total sample score for Readability Index was 42.0, with the majority of scores being classified as moderate (n = 30, 39%) or difficult (n = 43, 57%). Median total sample scores were for EQIP 54.0% (IQR = 17.0, Range = 8-75) and for PEMAT-PU 60.0% (IQR = 14.75, Range = 12-87). The majority of the websites did not have any texts or links containing information in an alternative language (n = 58, 76%).
Swedish websites contained information of difficult readability and understandability at the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, with few providing information available in alternative languages. It is possible that these deficits contributed to the spread and impact of the virus. There is a need for studies investigating methods aiming to enhance the readability, understandability and language accessibility of web-based information at the beginning of an epidemic or pandemic.
COVID-19 大流行造成了重大的发病率和死亡率。为了减轻其传播，普通人群成员被要求采取重大的行为改变。这需要有效地传播易懂的信息，让具有广泛文化程度背景的人都能获取。本研究的目的是调查含有 COVID-19 信息的瑞典面向消费者的网站的可读性、可理解性和语言可及性。
通过在 Google.se 中进行系统搜索（n=76）确定了网站，并于 2020 年 5 月收集，当时 COVID-19 在瑞典开始传播。使用可读性指数、确保患者获得高质量信息（EQIP）工具和患者教育材料评估工具理解分量表（PEMAT-PU）评估可读性和可理解性。
Readability Index 的中位数总样本得分为 42.0，其中大多数分数被归类为中等（n=30，39%）或困难（n=43，57%）。EQIP 的中位数总样本得分为 54.0%（IQR=17.0，范围=8-75），PEMAT-PU 的中位数总样本得分为 60.0%（IQR=14.75，范围=12-87）。大多数网站没有任何包含替代语言信息的文本或链接（n=58，76%）。
在冠状病毒病 2019 大流行开始时，瑞典网站的信息可读性和可理解性较差，很少提供替代语言的信息。这些缺陷可能导致了病毒的传播和影响。在大流行或大流行开始时，需要研究旨在提高基于网络的信息的可读性、可理解性和语言可及性的方法。
