Armstrong Valerie L, Grabeel Kelsey L, Heidel R Eric, McGillicuddy Christel M, Zmijewski Polina, Murdock Peyton, Lew John I, Vaghaiwalla Tanaz M
Department of Surgery, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tennessee Medical Center, Knoxville, TN, USA.
J Cancer Educ. 2025 Jun 21. doi: 10.1007/s13187-025-02666-3.
Patient education is a critical component of effective medical care; > 50% of patients seek medical information from online sources. The recommended reading level is sixth grade. This study examines reading level of current online educational resources for patients with pheochromocytoma. A review of 50 online patient educational materials related to pheochromocytomas was performed. Using three validated instruments: Flesch Reading Ease (FRE), Simplified Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG), and Gunning Fog Index (GFI) scores, the reading grade level was calculated, and Spearman correlations were performed to evaluate associations between the reading instruments. Thirty-two online patient educational materials were included. The majority of the materials were from academic and research institutions (47%), followed by general information and overviews (19%), government health resources (9%), cancer-specific organizations (9%), support and advocacy groups (9%), and children's health (6%). There were no patient materials that were written at the appropriate grade level. Materials were above a twelfth-grade reading level in 61% of sources (FRE = 78.2%, SMOG = 40.6%, GFI = 59.4%). There were strong, positive correlations between the three reading instruments utilized in the analysis. Readable educational materials facilitate effective healthcare literacy and empower patients to participate in health care decisions, which is especially important given the complex diagnostic and therapeutic considerations for pheochromocytomas. This study is the first to assess readability of online educational resources for patients with pheochromocytoma and reveals a significant gap in the availability of materials that meet the recommended grade level. Developing online education materials that meet the recommended reading grade level is essential to inform patient education and shared decision-making.
患者教育是有效医疗护理的关键组成部分;超过50%的患者从在线资源中获取医疗信息。推荐的阅读水平为六年级。本研究考察了当前针对嗜铬细胞瘤患者的在线教育资源的阅读水平。对50份与嗜铬细胞瘤相关的在线患者教育材料进行了综述。使用三种经过验证的工具:弗莱什易读性指数(FRE)、简化的晦涩语言测量法(SMOG)和冈宁雾指数(GFI)分数,计算阅读年级水平,并进行斯皮尔曼相关性分析以评估阅读工具之间的关联。纳入了32份在线患者教育材料。大多数材料来自学术和研究机构(47%),其次是一般信息和概述(19%)、政府卫生资源(9%)、癌症特定组织(9%)、支持和倡导团体(9%)以及儿童健康(6%)。没有一份患者材料的写作水平符合推荐年级。61%的来源材料的阅读水平高于十二年级(FRE = 78.2%,SMOG = 40.6%,GFI = 59.4%)。分析中使用的三种阅读工具之间存在强正相关。可读性强的教育材料有助于提高有效的医疗素养,并使患者能够参与医疗决策,鉴于嗜铬细胞瘤复杂的诊断和治疗考量,这一点尤为重要。本研究首次评估了嗜铬细胞瘤患者在线教育资源的可读性,并揭示了符合推荐年级水平的材料可用性存在显著差距。开发符合推荐阅读年级水平的在线教育材料对于为患者教育和共同决策提供信息至关重要。
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