Abstract
ObjectivePatient education materials across 3 national English otolaryngology–head and neck surgery (OHNS) societies: the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS), the Canadian Society of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (CSOHNS), and Ear, Nose, and Throat United Kingdom (ENT UK) were examined to determine whether they are written at a level suitable for patient comprehension.Study DesignCross-sectional study.SettingOnline patient materials presented through OHNS national societies.MethodsReadability was calculated using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease Score, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook Index. All public patient education materials available through the CSOHNS, AAO-HNS, and ENT UK websites were assessed. Patient education materials were grouped into categories by subspecialty.ResultsIn total, 128 patient materials from the 3 societies were included in the study. All 3 societies required a minimum grade 9 reading comprehension level to understand their online materials. According to Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, the CSOHNS required a significantly higher reading grade level to comprehend the materials presented when compared to AAO-HNS (11.3 vs 9.9; 95% CI, 0.5-2.4; P < .01) and ENT UK (11.3 vs 9.4; 95% CI, 0.9-2.9; P < .01). Patient education materials related to rhinology were the least readable among all 3 societies.ConclusionThis study suggests that the reading level of the current patient materials presented through 3 national OHNS societies are written at a level that exceeds current recommendations. Promisingly, it highlights an improvement for the readability of patient materials presented through the AAO-HNS.
Highlights
This study suggests that the reading level of the current patient materials presented through 3 national otolaryngology–head and neck surgery (OHNS) societies are written at a level that exceeds current recommendations
The American Medical Association (AMA) has recommended that medical information written for patients should aim for a reading level less than or equal to sixth grade as the average American reads at approximately an eighth-grade reading level.[25]
The Canadian Society of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (CSOHNS), the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS), and Ear, Nose, and Throat United Kingdom (ENT UK) have materials targeted for patient education
Summary
Readability was calculated using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease Score, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook Index. The plain text from each webpage was assessed using an online readability calculator (https://readable.com/), as demonstrated in other readability studies.[29,31,32] This resource evaluates the text’s readability based on criteria such as the average number of syllables and sentence length and yields the following readability scores: Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL), the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease (FRE) score, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook Index (SMOG) reading grade. The FKGL is the most validated readability formula used for analyzing medical texts, and both the FRE and FKGL have been widely used to assess readability in the OHNS literature.[22,23,33,34,35,36] FKGL approximates the reading grade level necessary to FRE score
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