Abstract
Background The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (USDHHS) recommends that health material be written at or below a sixth-grade reading level to ensure readability. The aim of this study was to examine the readability of international and national health organizations on Covid-19 information in their websites employing a previously validated tool.
Methods A purposive sample of publicly accessible governmental and popular international health organization websites was selected. The readability of the websites’ Covid-19 public health information was estimated using the previously validated SMOG readability formula, which determined reading level by correlating the number of polysyllabic words.
Results Of the 10 websites included in the analysis, none had Covid-19 public health information at the USDHHS’s recommended reading level. The material ranged in reading level at undergraduate level or above.
Discussion The findings indicate that the online Covid-19 materials need to be modified in order to reach recommended reading levels. This study can be of practical use to policy makers and public health government officials when designing, modifying, and evaluating Covid-19 materials. We recommend using simple, non-polysyllable words to ensure that Covid-19 public health information materials are written at the recommended reading levels.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Funding Statement
No funding was available to this study
Author Declarations
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Yes
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No personal identifiable data were analysed- so no institutional ethical approval was sought
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Yes
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Yes
Data Availability
Data will be available on request