Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington, KY.
College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY.
Otol Neurotol. 2023 Mar 1;44(3):223-228. doi: 10.1097/MAO.0000000000003791. Epub 2022 Dec 31.
According to the American Medical Association, Internet web site health information should be written at or below a 6th grade reading level. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the readability and quality of cochlear implant web site health information.
Cross-sectional web site analysis.
Four Internet search engines involving the top 200 web sites (English and Spanish).
INTERVENTION/METHODS: "Cochlear implant" was queried in four Internet search engines, and the top 200 English and Spanish web sites were aggregated. After removing duplicates, the web sites were evaluated for readability by using the following validated online readability calculators: Flesch Reading Ease score for English web sites and the Fernandez-Huerta Formula for Spanish web sites. Information quality was assessed using the validated DISCERN quality criteria and the presence of Health on the Net Code of Conduct (HONcode) certification.
A total of 80 non-industry-sponsored (43 English and 37 Spanish) and 11 industry-sponsored (4 English and 7 Spanish) cochlear implant health information web sites were included in the study. English web sites were written at a higher reading level (mean = 50.88, SD = 11.98) compared with Spanish web sites (mean = 59.79, SD = 6.04) ( p < 0.01). For both English and Spanish web sites, these scores correlate to the reading level of the average 10th to 12th grade student. Only 12% of Spanish web sites and 27% of English web sites were HONcode certified. The average DISCERN quality score was 41.67 for English web sites and 43.46 for Spanish, indicating significant concerns for quality. There was no association found between readability and quality of the web sites analyzed.
Patient-directed English and Spanish web sites regarding cochlear implantation were written at reading levels that significantly exceed those recommended by the AMA. Furthermore, these web sites have significant quality shortcomings. Patients would benefit from more rigorous editing to improve readability and quality of content.
根据美国医学协会的规定，互联网网站的健康信息应该用六年级或以下的阅读水平来书写。本研究的目的是评估人工耳蜗网站健康信息的可读性和质量。
横断面网站分析。
四个互联网搜索引擎，涉及前 200 个网站（英语和西班牙语）。
干预/方法：在四个互联网搜索引擎中查询“人工耳蜗”，并汇总前 200 个英语和西班牙语网站。在去除重复项后，使用以下经过验证的在线可读性计算器评估网站的可读性：英语网站的 Flesch 阅读舒适度得分和西班牙语网站的 Fernandez-Huerta 公式。使用经过验证的 DISCERN 质量标准和健康网络行为准则（HONcode）认证评估信息质量。
共有 80 个非行业赞助（43 个英语和 37 个西班牙语）和 11 个行业赞助（4 个英语和 7 个西班牙语）的人工耳蜗健康信息网站被纳入研究。英语网站的阅读水平较高（平均值=50.88，标准差=11.98），而西班牙语网站的阅读水平较高（平均值=59.79，标准差=6.04）（p<0.01）。对于英语和西班牙语网站，这些分数与 10 至 12 年级学生的平均阅读水平相对应。只有 12%的西班牙语网站和 27%的英语网站获得了 HONcode 认证。英语网站的平均 DISCERN 质量得分为 41.67，西班牙语网站的平均得分为 43.46，表明质量存在严重问题。分析的网站的可读性和质量之间没有发现关联。
针对人工耳蜗植入的患者导向的英语和西班牙语网站的书写水平明显高于美国医学协会推荐的水平。此外，这些网站存在严重的质量缺陷。为了提高可读性和内容质量，患者将受益于更严格的编辑。
