Preparation, Validation and User-testing of Patient Information Leaflets on Diabetes and Hypertension

Abstract

A patient information leaflet is an educational material for educating patients regarding a disease, medications and lifestyle modifications for better care. The present study aimed at preparing, validating and user-testing of diabetes and hypertension information leaflets in different languages among patients. The patient information leaflets on diabetes and hypertension were prepared by referring to the primary, secondary and tertiary resources. The content of the leaflet was validated by an expert committee. The readability of leaflets has been assessed by Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level scores using MS Office 2007. The patient information leaflets were translated into Kannada and Malayalam languages with the help of language experts. During the user-testing, baseline knowledge was assessed before providing the patient information leaflet followed by provision of leaflets to the patients. After allowing the patients to read the leaflet for a period of 20 min, patients have again been administered with a set of questions to assess their knowledge. The Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level readability scores achieved for diabetes leaflets are 70.4 and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score achieved is 6.3 and for hypertension leaflets, the Flesch Reading Ease score is 68.3 and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score achieved is 6.9. User testing of the patient information leaflets on diabetes and hypertension in different languages have been carried out on 40 each diabetic and hypertensive patients using knowledge based questionnaire. Knowledge assessment after providing patient information leaflet, the mean scores have significantly risen from 44.80 to 87.99 and 63.19 to 90.13 with p<0.0001, respectively in diabetes and hypertensive patients. It showed that patient education added with a well-designed patient information leaflet has a greater impact on knowledge of the patients towards their disease management, so that the medication adherence is improved.