Eaton M L, Holloway R L
Am J Hosp Pharm. 1980 Feb;37(2):240-3.
The effect of the readability level of patient drug information materials on patient comprehension of and attitude toward the information was studied. The reading level of 108 outpatients at a Veterans Administration hospital who could read English, read type of normal size, and who were not receiving warfarin sodium was measured. Patients then were given, on a random basis, a warfarin drug monograph written on either the 5th- or 10th-grade level. To test comprehension, all subjects took a true-false test of recall written at the 5th-grade level. A significant relationship was found between comprehension and reading ability (p less than 0.001). Patients receiving the 5th-grade level monograph exhibited significantly better comprehension than those receiving the 10th-grade level material (p less than 0.001). As compared with those getting 10th-grade material, the group receiving the 5th-grade material had a more favorable perception of the level of difficulty, understandability, and clarity of the material. The study indicates that comprehension of written patient drug information can be improved by adjusting the readability of informational materials to the reading level of the patients.
研究了患者药物信息材料的可读性水平对患者对信息的理解和态度的影响。测量了一家退伍军人管理局医院108名能阅读英文、阅读正常字号且未服用华法林钠的门诊患者的阅读水平。然后，随机为患者提供一份五年级或十年级水平编写的华法林药物说明书。为测试理解能力，所有受试者参加了一份五年级水平编写的正误回忆测试。发现理解能力与阅读能力之间存在显著关系（p小于0.001）。收到五年级水平说明书的患者表现出的理解能力明显优于收到十年级水平材料的患者（p小于0.001）。与收到十年级材料的患者相比，收到五年级材料的患者对材料的难度水平、可理解性和清晰度有更积极的看法。该研究表明，通过将信息材料的可读性调整到患者的阅读水平，可以提高患者对书面药物信息的理解。
