AJR: 91% of online societal pediatric radiation safety materials difficult to understand
Some studies have found the average American adult reads at an eighth-grade level, wrote authors in a recent American Journal of Roentgenology study, but online healthcare education materials have been created without considering this.
“In radiology, medical decision making often occurs before the arrival of a patient in the radiology department, which makes the Internet a particularly powerful tool for providing easily accessible high-quality educational material on various radiologic studies and procedures,” wrote Paul H. Yi, with the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, and colleagues.
“The availability of high-quality web-based informational materials does not necessarily translate into reader comprehension of those materials,” they added.
The team assessed online information regarding pediatric radiation safety available on the Society for Pediatric Radiology website, along with RadiologyInfo (sponsored by the Radiological Society of North America and the American College of Radiology) and the American Academy of Pediatric-sponsored HealthyChildren.org.
Analyzing 54 articles for readability, researchers found three below the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-recommended eighth-grade reading level. Mean readability ranged from grades 12 to 14.8.
Using the ANOVA numeric scale, the mean readability of articles was 37.3—regarded as difficult readability. Ninety-one percent of articles were deemed “very difficult,” “difficult” or “fairly difficult.”
“The most important finding of this study is the low overall readability level of almost all articles pertaining to pediatric radiation safety from all three web sources, with a large proportion of the articles written at or above the college level,” they wrote.
Yi and colleagues argued low readability “likely” contributes to the widespread poor health literacy seen in many pediatric patients and caregivers.
They suggested replacing terms such as "radiography," with easier to recognize words like "x-ray." Additionally, visual elements such as tables and figures may help reduce the length of reading materials. Point-of-view perspective writing may also improve the readability of online medical literature, the team wrote.
“Pediatric ionizing radiation safety is a topic of particular importance and complexity, and a general lack of knowledge regarding radiation dose and potential health risks exists not only among parents and caregivers but also among health care professionals,” the authors concluded.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.