Healthcare Documents: How Readable? A Study of Simple Strategies to Decrease Reading Grade Level and Increase Reading Ease of Healthcare Documents

Abstract

Background: The field of healthcare is becoming more aware of the need for patients to be able understand the consent forms we provide. Health literacy is often defined as the ability to read, understand, and act correctly on health information. Health literacy surveys have consistently shown that about 24% of the population cannot read at the 5th grade level. About 66% of the population can read at the 6 th grade level. It is for this reason that the target grade level for most newspapers and lay periodicals is set at a goal of a 6 th grade reading level. [1-2] How can one study the reading level and reading ease of a document? A well-known formula for determining the reading grade level of a document is the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Score (FKGS). The Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES) is a well-known formula for determining reading ease. One advantage of these two tests is that they are both available on a widely-available word processing platform. Methods: The purpose of project was to identify a random sample of consent forms, open source, from the internet. The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level and Flesch Reading Ease effect of decreasing the reading grade level as expressed in the FKGS and of increasing reading ease as expressed in the FRES. These effects were highly statistically significant. Future directions could include a study of other literacy indicators. Hospital-based documents could be assessed for possible literacy intervention. Comparisons of reductions in FKGS and FRES could be compared to outcomes in other reading scores. Lastly, outcomes of patient comprehension pre and post literacy interventions, such as reductions in FKGS and increases in FRES, could be made.