Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Understanding of health-related materials, termed health literacy, affects decision makings and outcomes in the treatment of bladder cancer. The National Institutes of Health recommend writing education materials at a sixth-seventh grade reading level [6]. The goal of this study is to assess readability of bladder cancer materials available online.

OBJECTIVE:

The goal of this study is to characterize available information about bladder cancer online and evaluate readability.

METHODS:

Materials on bladder cancer were collected from the American Urological Association’s Urology Care Foundation (AUA-UCF) and compared to top 50 websites by search engine results. Resources were analyzed using four different validated readability assessment scales. The mean and standard deviation of the materials was calculated, and a two-tailed t test for used to assess for significance between the two sets of patient education materials.

RESULTS:

The average readability of AUA materials was 8.5 (8th–9th grade reading level). For the top 50 websites, average readability was 11.7 (11–12th grade reading level). A two-tailed t test between the AUA and top 50 websites demonstrated statistical significance between the readability of the two sets of resources (P = 0.0001), with the top search engine results being several grade levels higher than the recommended 6–7th grade reading level.

CONCLUSIONS:

Most health information provided by the AUA on bladder cancer is written at a reading ability that aligns with most US adults, with top websites for search engine results exceeding the average reading level by several grade levels. By focusing on health literacy, urologists may contribute lowering barriers to health literacy, improving health care expenditure and perioperative complications.

中文翻译：

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膀胱癌健康素养：评估在线患者教育材料的可读性

 抽象的

 背景：

对健康相关材料（称为健康素养）的理解会影响膀胱癌治疗的决策和结果。美国国立卫生研究院建议编写六七年级阅读水平的教育材料[6]。本研究的目的是评估在线膀胱癌材料的可读性。

 客观的：

本研究的目的是描述有关膀胱癌的在线可用信息并评估可读性。

 方法：

有关膀胱癌的材料是从美国泌尿外科协会泌尿科护理基金会 (AUA-UCF) 收集的，并通过搜索引擎结果与排名前 50 的网站进行比较。使用四种不同的经过验证的可读性评估量表对资源进行了分析。计算材料的平均值和标准差，并使用双尾t检验来评估两组患者教育材料之间的显着性。

 结果：

AUA 材料的平均可读性为 8.5（8 至 9 年级阅读水平）。对于排名前 50 名的网站，平均可读性为 11.7（11-12 年级阅读水平）。 AUA 和排名前 50 的网站之间的双尾t检验表明，两组资源的可读性之间存在统计显着性 ( P = 0.0001)，排名靠前的搜索引擎结果比推荐的 6-7 年级阅读水平高出几个年级水平等级。

 结论：

AUA 提供的关于膀胱癌的大多数健康信息的阅读能力与大多数美国成年人一致，搜索引擎结果的顶级网站比平均阅读水平高出几个年级。通过关注健康素养，泌尿科医生可能有助于降低健康素养障碍，改善医疗保健支出和围手术期并发症。