Assessment of the readability of internet-based patient educational materials on acute rheumatic fever

Year 2020, Volume: 45 Issue: 2, 414 - 420, 30.06.2020

Derya Arslan , Betül Kozanhan , Mahmut Sami Tutar

https://doi.org/10.17826/cumj.658528

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the readability of acute rheumatic fever-related Internet-based patient education materials.
Materials and Methods: A total of 250 websites assessed, 50 for each of the keywords (“acute rheumatic fever,” “acute joint rheumatism’’, “rheumatic fever’’, “acute rheumatic carditis’’, “rheumatic carditis’’) on search engine Google (available at www.google.com). Sites with less information than ten sentences, chat, forum and commercial blog sites were excluded from the study. Average word count, average syllable number and words with an average syllable number of 4 and above were calculated. The average readability level was analyzed using Ateşman and Bezirci-Yilmaz readability formulas.
Results: A total of 50 out of 250 websites were eligible for examination after the applying of the exclusion criteria. Of the sites reviewed, 33 created by health-care professionals and the 17 by non-health-care professionals. The readability of the web sites was moderate difficulty according to the Ateşman formula, and comprehensible to people at undergraduate level according to the Bezirci-Yılmaz formula.
Conclusion: The readability level of patient educational texts related to acute rheumatic fever field on web sites was at academic literacy level. This information would be difficult to understand by the average education level in the Turkey. 

Keywords

Acute rheumatic fever, child, internet, web sites

Akut romatizmal ateşte internet tabanlı hasta eğitim materyallerinin okunabilirliğinin değerlendirilmesi

Abstract

Amaç: Bu çalışmanın amacı akut romatizmal ateşle ilişkili internet tabanlı hasta eğitim materyallerinin okunabilirliğini değerlendirmektir.

Gereç ve Yöntem: Herbir anahtar kelime (“akut romatizmal ateş”, “akut eklem romatizması”, “romatizmal ateş”, “akut romatizmal kardit '',“ romatizmal kardit '') için Google arama motorunda (www.google.com) 50 site olmak üzere toplam 250 web sitesi değerlendirildi. On cümleden daha az bilgi içeren siteler, sohbet, forum ve ticari blog siteleri çalışma dışı bırakıldı. Ortalama kelime sayısı, ortalama hece sayısı ve ortalama hece sayısı 4 ve üzerinde olan kelimeler hesaplanmıştır. Ortalama okunabilirlik seviyesi Ateşman ve Bezirci-Yılmaz okunabilirlik formülleri kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir.

Bulgular: Hariç tutma ölçütleri uygulandıktan sonra 250 web sitesinin toplam 50'si araştırma için uygun bulundu. İncelenen sitelerden 33'ü sağlık uzmanları ve 17'si sağlık personeli olmayan kişiler tarafından oluşturulmuştur. Ateşman formülüne göre web sitelerinin okunabilirliği orta derecede zor, Bezirci-Yılmaz formülüne göre lisans düzeyinde insanlar tarafından anlaşılabilir bulunmuştur.

Sonuç: Web sitelerindeki akut romatizmal ateş alanıyla ilgili hasta eğitimi metinlerinin okunabilirlik seviyesinin akademik okuryazarlık düzeyinde olduğu belirlenmiş ve bu bilgilerin Türkiye'deki ortalama eğitim düzeyi ile anlaşılması güç olacağı düşünülmektedir.

Keywords

Acute rheumatic fever, , Child, , Internet, , Web sites

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