279 CAN PATIENTS WITH LOW LITERACY READ WEBSITES WITH INFORMATION ON PROSTATE CANCER TREATMENT OPTIONS?

Abstract

You have accessJournal of UrologyGeneral & Epidemiological Trends & Socioeconomics: Practice Patterns, Cost Effectiveness II1 Apr 2012279 CAN PATIENTS WITH LOW LITERACY READ WEBSITES WITH INFORMATION ON PROSTATE CANCER TREATMENT OPTIONS? Chandy Ellimoottil, Anthony Polcari, Adam Kadlec, and Gopal Gupta Chandy EllimoottilChandy Ellimoottil Maywood, IL More articles by this author , Anthony PolcariAnthony Polcari Maywood, IL More articles by this author , Adam KadlecAdam Kadlec Maywood, IL More articles by this author , and Gopal GuptaGopal Gupta Maywood, IL More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2012.02.337AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES About 90 million adults read below a high school reading level. With an increasing number of patients searching online for health information, websites written at a high reading level can pose a challenge for these patients seeking self-education on prostate cancer treatment options. In this study, we sought to determine the readability of selected websites using a systematic search process and validated readability formulas. METHODS We identified the three most popular keywords (”prostate cancer”, ”prostatectomy”, ”prostate cancer treatment”) from 513 keywords related to prostate cancer treatment options. Three trained physician searchers (CE, AP, AK) then systematically collected 270 websites from the three search engines representing 95% of internet search volume (Google, Yahoo, Bing). We excluded sites that were non-English, not primarily text, irrelevant and/or duplicated, and we categorized the remaining sites by source (government, academic practice, nonacademic practice, commercial, nonprofit, news, health website, other) and treatment type. We then used validated readability instruments, Flesch-Kincaid (FK) grade level and Flesch reading ease, to calculate readability scores for each site. We also calculated an intraclass correlation coefficient to assess the degree of interrater agreement among our three searchers. RESULTS Sixty-two unique websites remained for analysis. The mean FK grade level of all sites was 11.4 (SD +/- 0.95, range 8.0-12.0) indicating a mean 11th grade reading level. The mean Flesch reading ease score of all sites was 35.6 (SD +/- 15.7, range 0.0-65.5) indicating that, on average, passages were slightly easier to read than passages suited for university graduates (0-30). Only 3 sites (4.8%) were written below a high school reading level (< 9.0). The intraclass correlation coefficient between the three searchers was 0.96 for grade level and 0.97 for reading ease. CONCLUSIONS Very few websites with discussions on prostate cancer treatment options are written below a high school reading level. This is problematic for patients with low literacy who search online for information regarding their options for prostate cancer treatment. © 2012 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 187Issue 4SApril 2012Page: e113-e114 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2012 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.MetricsAuthor Information Chandy Ellimoottil Maywood, IL More articles by this author Anthony Polcari Maywood, IL More articles by this author Adam Kadlec Maywood, IL More articles by this author Gopal Gupta Maywood, IL More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement Advertisement PDF downloadLoading ...