Pos1440-Pare Readability Analysis of the American College of Rheumatology Patient Education Material on Rheumatic Diseases and Conditions

Background: Health-related content should not be written above the sixth grade reading level, according to the American Medical Association and the National Institutes of Health [1]. Nevertheless, a comprehensive analysis of patient education materials (PEM) in cardiology, gastroenterology and oncology has revealed that PEM frequently includes materials above this suggested standard. Objectives: Our objective was to assess the American college of rheumatology (ACR) patient education literature on conditions for readability. Methods: Patient education handouts from the ACR website2 were transcribed into a Microsoft Word document. After reformatting the patient education materials, readability was assessed using online readability scoring software3. Four validated readability assessment tests were used to analyze the body of text from all 49 ACR patient brochures: the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL), Simple Measure of Gobbledygook Index (SMOG), Coleman-Liau Index (CLI) and the Gunning Fog Index (GFI). The software also provided an average reading level consensus which was based on eight popular formulas to yield a difficulty score based on average grade level and mean reading age. Mean, medial interquartile range, standard deviation for each of the scores was calculated. Results: For FKGL, SMOG, CLI and GFI, the mean (± SD) readability ratings from the 49 ACR patient brochures were 10.78(1.54), 9.65(1.22), 13.27(1.58),13.31(1.8). The calculated average reading level based on consensus calculation varied between grades 8 and 16 with a mean of 11.48 and a standard deviation of 1.38. The average readability scores of all 49 ACR patient information on conditions were significantly higher than the sixth grade reading level. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that average patients would struggle to comprehend the medical information presented in ACR patient booklets, which would impair their capacity to have a detailed understanding of their underlying illness. Additional steps must be taken to ensure that ACR education guides are more straightforward for the patients to understand. REFERENCES: [1] Weiss BD. Health literacy: A manual for clinicians. Chicago, IL: American Medical Association Foundation and American Medical Association; 2003. [2] American College of Rheumatology: Diseases and Conditions:https://rheumatology.org/patients/diseases-and-conditions. [3] Readability Formulas: https://readabilityformulas.com/readability-scoring-system.php. Acknowledgements: NIL. Disclosure of Interests: None declared.