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Readability of health care literature
Author(s) -
OATES M. S.,
OATES R. K.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1754.1989.tb01410.x
Subject(s) - readability , newspaper , medicine , government (linguistics) , health care , sample (material) , quality (philosophy) , family medicine , advertising , law , linguistics , political science , philosophy , chemistry , epistemology , chromatography , business
A sample of health care literature produced for parents was analysed, using the Flesch method, for readability and human interest. As a comparison, the readability and human interest scores were also calculated for Sydney daily newspapers. It was found that the pamphlets produced by government agencies were more readable than those produced by non‐government agencies. Those pamphlets written with input from parents were the most readable of all. Similar results were found for the human interest level of the pamphlets. The readability and the human interest scores of the government‐produced pamphlets were similar to those of the larger circulation daily newspapers. Health care literature for parents needs to be of good quality and easily understood. The involvement of parents in their production may improve the effectiveness of these leaflets.