Online Patient Information from Radiation Oncology Departments is too Complex for the General Population

Publication date: Available online 1 August 2016
Source:Practical Radiation Oncology
Author(s): Stephen A. Rosenberg, David M. Francis, Craig R. Hullet, Zachary S. Morris, Jeffrey V. Brower, Bethany M. Anderson, Kristin A. Bradley, Michael Bassetti, Randall J. Kimple
PurposeNearly two-thirds of cancer patients seek information about their diagnosis online. We assessed the readability of online patient education materials found on academic radiation oncology department websites to determine whether they adhered to guidelines suggesting that information be presented at a 6th grade reading level.Materials/Methods.The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) website was utilized to identify all academic radiation oncology departments in the United States. One-third of these department websites were selected for analysis using a random number generator. Both general information on radiation therapy and specific information regarding various radiation modalities were collected. To test the hypothesis that the readability of these online educational materials was written at the recommended grade level, a panel of ten common readability tests was employed. A composite grade level of readability was constructed using the eight readability measures that provide a single grade level output.ResultsA mean of 5605 words (range 2058–12,837) from thirty department websites was collected. Using the composite grade level score, the overall mean readability level was determined to be 13.36 (12.83–13.89), corresponding to a collegiate reading level. This was significantly higher than the target 6th grade reading level (middle school, t (29)=27.41, p<0.001).ConclusionsOnline patient educational materials from academic radiation oncology websites are significantly more complex than recommended by the NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services. To improve patients' comprehension of radiotherapy and its role in their treatment our analysis suggests that the language used in online patient information should be simplified to communicate the information at a more appropriate level.



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