Consumers all around the world are increasingly turning to the internet to seek advice and information on health issues. It is generally agreed that the internet is a useful tool in disseminating health information but research has found that most health websites are too hard for many readers to obtain, understand and process.
In the US, the average American adult reads at a grade eight level, yet most health care materials are written at a grade ten level despite recommendations by the US Department of Health that information be written at a sixth-grade level. Studies have found a similar situation in Europe. One review of 352 health websites from around the world found that average reading grade level of the material was 12.3 – comprehensible by people who have more than 12 years of schooling.
The reason for the complexity of health information is that most of the content is prepared by medical experts. This is often essential to ensure accuracy. However, a health literacy deficit among the general population is creating a gap between patients and physicians. A study in the US found that more one third of adults lacked the ability to provide basic health information provided by their clinician.
In Australia, more than 16 million Australians are active online, and around 80 percent of them use the internet to find health information. A 2015 study on health literacy and the internet conducted by the Deakin University of Melbourne assessed 251 web pages on 137 websites and found that only 2.4 percent of them were considered easy to read according to a year 8 reading level benchmark.
The study involved web pages relating to information on 12 common health conditions and found that information on dementia was the most difficult to read overall. Another condition which was among the most difficult to read was obesity.
The consequences
Around 44 percent of Australians have low literacy skills and of great concern is that consumers will misinterpret the information they come across on health websites which could lead to them making inappropriate healthcare decisions. Patients with low levels of health literacy are more likely to be hospitalised. Low health literacy skills affect patient safety, health care access and contributes to poor health outcomes.
Many patients are unwilling to admit they have literacy problems and this is often not picked up by their practitioner because the patient over time has learnt to mask the issue. Advice from the American Family Physician to medical practitioners is to avoid medical jargon, limit the amount of information provided and use visuals where appropriate.