Abstract
We sought to assess the readability levels of arthroscopy-related patient education
materials available on the Web sites of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
(AAOS) and the Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA). We identified all
articles related to arthroscopy available in 2012 from the online patient education
libraries of AAOS and AANA. After performing follow-up editing, we assessed each article
with the Flesch-Kincaid (FK) readability test. Mean readability levels of the articles
from the AAOS Web site and the AANA Web site were compared. We also determined the
number of articles with readability levels at or below the eighth-grade level (the
average reading ability of the US adult population) and sixth-grade level (the widely
recommended level for patient education materials). Intraobserver reliability and
interobserver reliability of FK grade assessment were evaluated. A total of 62 articles
were reviewed (43 from AAOS and 19 from AANA). The mean overall FK grade level was
10.2 (range, 5.2 to 12). The AAOS articles had a mean FK grade level of 9.6 (range,
5.2 to 12), whereas the AANA articles had a mean FK grade level of 11.4 (range, 8.7
to 12); the difference was significant (P < .0001). Only 3 articles had a readability level at or below the eighth-grade level
and only 1 was at or below the sixth-grade level; all were from AAOS. Intraobserver
reliability and interobserver reliability were excellent (intraclass correlation coefficient
of 1 for both). Online patient education materials related to arthroscopy from AAOS
and AANA may be written at a level too difficult for a large portion of the patient
population to comprehend.
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
March 4,
2013
Received:
February 25,
2013
Footnotes
The authors report that they have no conflicts of interest in the authorship and publication of this article.
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Arthroscopy Association of North America. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
