Assessing the Readability of Skin Care and Pressure Ulcer Patient Education Materials:

Availability and Readability Level of Online Patient Education Materials Provided by Cleft Lip and Palate Teams

OBJECTIVES

Evaluate the readability of online English and Spanish cleft lip and palate patient education materials.

DESIGN

Review of free online materials.

SETTING

English and Spanish language online patient education materials on cleft lip and palate were collected from American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA) approved teams.

PARTICIPANTS

American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA) approved teams.

INTERVENTIONS

English materials were analyzed using the Flesch-Kincaid, SMOG, and Coleman-Liau readability calculators. Spanish materials were analyzed using the Fry Graph, Fernandez Huerta, and INFLESZ calculators. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test for variability between the readability tools.

OUTCOMES

Readability levels were examined for both sets of materials.

RESULTS

171 (90.5%) teams provided English language materials online, with an average readability score calculated as 10.5 ± 2.9 (10th-11th grade). A total of 44 (23.2%) teams listed Spanish language materials online, with average readability score of 7.9 ± 1.2 (8th grade). ANOVA demonstrated statistically significant variability between the readability assessment tools (P < .01).

CONCLUSION

Online cleft lip and palate patient education material provided by ACPA craniofacial teams were more available in English than in Spanish. Both sets of materials demonstrated readability levels above the recommended 6th-7th grade. Refining readability is associated with lowered healthcare costs and increased patient satisfaction.

The use of a mobile educational tool on pressure injury education for individuals living with spinal cord injury/disease: a qualitative research study

Background: As many as 30-60% of individuals living with spinal cord injury/disease (SCI/D) experience at least one pressure injury (PI) in their lifetime. Best practice guidelines in SCI/D rehabilitation emphasize the importance of providing education regarding PI prevention and management for individuals living with SCI/D. Mobile educational applications can be used for PI education however there is limited research on the user-experiences of mobile educational applications about PIs for individuals living with SCI/D.Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of individuals living with SCI/D on the use of Pressure Ulcer Target (PUT), a mobile educational app for PI prevention and management.Methods/Overview: Nine participants living with SCI/D used PUT over two weeks. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the participants' perceptions regarding the utility, aesthetics and ease of use of PUT and suggested modifications. A conventional content analysis was used to identify themes and categories from the data.Results: User-experiences with PUT fell into four themes: (1) Strengths and weakness; (2) Target population; (3) Key concepts and messages; and (4) Recommendations for improvement.Conclusions: PUT serves as a review of previously acquired PI knowledge and should be introduced early in rehabilitation to motivate users to prevent PIs. Future studies exploring healthcare professionals' perspectives of PUT are warranted.Implications for rehabilitationPUT aids individuals living with SCI/D in the community to review PI prevention and management strategies that they learned as inpatients.The use of pictures to deliver patient education regarding PI prevention and management through a mHealth app is recommended.PUT should be introduced early in rehabilitation to motivate users to prevent PIs.

Patient education materials on pressure injury prevention in hospitals and health services in Victoria, Australia: Availability and content analysis

Pressure injuries (PIs) are a common quality indicator for hospital care, and preventing PIs often requires patient engagement; as such, Australian consensus research has recommended that high-quality education materials be made to patients for PIs via hospital networks. The purpose of the present study was to assess the availability and accuracy of patient education materials on PIs in publicly available hospital websites in Victoria, Australia. Two independent coders assessed 212 websites for content on PI prevention and management, analysing availability and accuracy of PI definitions, risk factors, preventive strategies, referral, visual tools, consumer endorsement, information for family/carers, and translation on community languages. A greater proportion of hospitals did not have any patient education materials on PI prevention publicly available, with private hospitals (compared with public) and metropolitan hospitals (compared to rural) more likely to have materials available on their sites. The available materials contained accurate messages on PI defining characteristics and risk factors for PIs, although there was considerable variability on the availability of other information. Our findings suggest a significant deficit in the availability of educational materials for acute care patients and their families. There is a need for evidence-based, consumer-endorsed, uniform materials on all hospital websites to prevent PIs in acute care.