Printed health information materials: evaluation of readability and suitability.

Full Abstract

This study examined readability and suitability of printed health information materials colleted from multiple sources. In phase I, nursing students used Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG; McLaughlin, 1969) to assess the readability of 21 materials collected from the community. In phases II and III, nursing students and registered nurses used SMOG and the Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM; Doak, Doak, & Root, 1996) to evaluate 15 prenatal materials from a Healthy Start program. SMOG assigns a reading grade level based on the number of words with 3 or more syllables. SAM has 22 items in 6 evaluation areas:
content, literacy demand, graphics, layout and typography, learning stimulation and motivation, and cultural appropriateness. Major findings included that 53% to 86% of the printed materials had a reading level at or higher than 9th grade; materials lacked summary, interaction, and modeled behaviors, and registered nurses rated more materials as not suitable and fewer as superior for suitability qualities than students. Improving printed materials to have lower reading levels and better suitability qualities are indicated.

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Author information

Author/s: Shieh, Carol (C); Hosei, Barbara (B);

Affiliation: Department of Environments for Health, Indiana University School of Nursing, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA. wshieh@iupui.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Evaluation Studies; Journal Article

Journal: Journal of community health nursing (J Community Health Nurs), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2008 Apr-Jun; vol 25 (issue 2) : pp 73-90

Dates: Created 2008/05/01; Completed 2008/08/29;

PMID: 18449833, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Attitude of Health Personnel
Community Health Nursing - education; organization & administration
Comprehension
Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate
Educational Status
Health Education - methods
Health Services Needs and Demand
Humans
Midwestern United States
Needs Assessment

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