Ghahremani Jacob S, Chapek Michael, Xie Virginia, Watarastaporn Tanya, Al-Khatib Nala A, Navarro Ronald A
Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, Pasadena, California, U.S.A.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kaiser Permanente Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Pasadena, California, U.S.A.
Arthrosc Sports Med Rehabil. 2024 Jul 26;6(6):100982. doi: 10.1016/j.asmr.2024.100982. eCollection 2024 Dec.
To examine the overall reading levels of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction online patient education materials (OPEMs) written in English and Spanish.
We conducted Google searches for OPEMs using "ACL surgery" and "" as English and Spanish search terms, respectively. Several measures of readability were used to analyze 25 English-language OPEMs (Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch Reading Ease Grade Level, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Coleman-Liau Index, Gunning Fog Index, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook) and 25 Spanish-language OPEMs (Fernández-Huerta Index, Fernández-Huerta Grade Level, and Índice de Legibilidad de Flesch-Szigriszt). English- and Spanish-language OPEMs were compared based on mean overall grade level and number of OPEMs written below a seventh- or ninth-grade reading level.
English-language OPEMs showed a higher mean overall grade level than Spanish-language OPEMs (10.48 ± 1.86 vs 8.64 ± 1.22, < .001). No significant differences were noted in the number of OPEMs written below a seventh-grade reading level. However, significantly more Spanish-language OPEMs were written below a ninth-grade reading level compared with English-language OPEMs (56% vs 16%, = .003).
Although Spanish-language OPEMs were written at a lower reading level, average readability for both English- and Spanish-language OPEMs was significantly higher than the recommended level. Across both languages, only a single English-language webpage met the American Medical Association-recommended sixth-grade reading level. More Spanish-language articles were written at or below the average adult reading level in the United States.
It is imperative that patient educational materials be written at a reading level that is understood by the most patients. This is especially true for OPEMs, when a medical provider is not present to answer questions. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the reading level of OPEMs to determine whether they are written at an appropriate level for the best patient understanding.
研究用英文和西班牙文撰写的前交叉韧带重建在线患者教育资料（OPEMs）的整体阅读水平。
我们分别使用“ACL手术”和“”作为英文和西班牙文搜索词，在谷歌上搜索OPEMs。采用多种可读性测量方法对25份英文OPEMs（弗莱什易读性、弗莱什易读性年级水平、弗莱什-金凯德年级水平、科尔曼-廖指数、冈宁雾度指数和简单费解度测量）和25份西班牙文OPEMs（费尔南德斯-韦尔塔指数、费尔南德斯-韦尔塔年级水平和弗莱什-齐格里斯zt易读性指数）进行分析。基于平均总体年级水平以及低于七年级或九年级阅读水平的OPEMs数量，对英文和西班牙文OPEMs进行比较。
英文OPEMs的平均总体年级水平高于西班牙文OPEMs（10.48±1.86对8.64±1.22，<0.001）。低于七年级阅读水平的OPEMs数量没有显著差异。然而，与英文OPEMs相比，低于九年级阅读水平的西班牙文OPEMs数量显著更多（56%对16%，=0.003）。
虽然西班牙文OPEMs的阅读水平较低，但英文和西班牙文OPEMs的平均可读性均显著高于推荐水平。在两种语言中，只有一个英文网页达到了美国医学协会推荐的六年级阅读水平。更多西班牙文文章的写作水平处于或低于美国成年人的平均阅读水平。
患者教育资料必须以大多数患者能够理解的阅读水平来撰写。对于OPEMs来说尤其如此，因为此时没有医疗服务提供者在场回答问题。因此，评估OPEMs的阅读水平以确定其是否以适当水平撰写以便患者最佳理解非常重要。
