Assessing the availability, readability, and content of online patient Education materials for cancer pain interventions: A cross-sectional analysis of major cancer center websites

Interventional Pain Medicine Pub Date : 2025-08-21 DOI:10.1016/j.inpm.2025.100633

Meha Aggarwal , Marshall Yuan , David Hao

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Abstract

Background

As cancer survival improves, chronic cancer-related pain is an increasing clinical concern. Interventional procedures offer targeted, opioid-sparing pain relief, yet the quality and readability of online educational materials about these options remain poorly understood.

Objective

To evaluate the availability, quality, and readability of online educational resources on interventional cancer pain management available from National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 65 NCI-designated clinical cancer center websites to identify patient-facing content discussing interventional cancer pain procedures. Eligible materials were evaluated for quality using the DISCERN instrument and for readability using seven validated metrics. Inter-rater reliability was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Statistical comparisons were performed using t-tests.

Results

Only 20 of 65 cancer center websites (31%) contained relevant educational materials. Sixty qualifying texts were identified: 28 full articles and 32 substantial mentions (≥50 words). The mean DISCERN score was 37 ± 9, indicating poor quality. Articles scored significantly higher than substantial mentions (mean difference 9.4 points, p < 0.001). The ICC for DISCERN scores was 0.872 (p < 0.001), reflecting good inter-rater agreement. Readability analysis revealed an average reading level equivalent to the 11th grade across all metrics, significantly higher than the NIH-recommended 8th-grade level (p < 0.001). Substantial mentions were significantly more difficult to read than articles (p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Online materials on cancer pain interventions are generally scarce, low in quality, and written above nationally recommended reading levels. These findings highlight the need for cancer centers to improve online education materials using plain language and health literacy tools to better support informed decision-making.

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评估癌症疼痛干预的在线患者教育材料的可用性、可读性和内容：对主要癌症中心网站的横断面分析

随着癌症生存率的提高，慢性癌症相关疼痛越来越受到临床关注。介入手术提供有针对性的、不使用阿片类药物的疼痛缓解，但关于这些选择的在线教育材料的质量和可读性仍然知之甚少。目的评估美国国家癌症研究所（NCI）指定癌症中心提供的介入性癌症疼痛管理在线教育资源的可得性、质量和可读性。方法：我们对65个nci指定的临床癌症中心网站进行了横断面分析，以确定讨论介入性癌症疼痛手术的面向患者的内容。使用DISCERN仪器评估合格材料的质量，并使用七个经过验证的指标评估材料的可读性。采用类内相关系数（ICC）评估评估间信度。采用t检验进行统计学比较。结果65个癌症中心网站中只有20个（31%）包含相关的教育资料。确定了60篇符合条件的文章：28篇完整文章和32篇实质性提及（≥50字）。平均DISCERN评分为37±9分，表明质量较差。文章得分明显高于大量提及（平均差9.4分，p < 0.001）。DISCERN评分的ICC为0.872 (p < 0.001)，反映了良好的评分间一致性。可读性分析显示，所有指标的平均阅读水平与11年级相当，显著高于美国国立卫生研究院推荐的8年级水平（p < 0.001）。实质性的提及明显比文章更难阅读（p < 0.001）。结论：关于癌症疼痛干预的在线资料普遍稀缺，质量低，且高于国家推荐阅读水平。这些发现强调了癌症中心需要改进在线教育材料，使用简单的语言和健康素养工具，以更好地支持知情决策。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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Interventional Pain Medicine

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