Health Literacy - Who's Reading Your Writing? How Difficult Is Your Text?
Self-paced
Full course description
Readability describes the ease with which a document can be read. Since the 1920's readability tests have been designed as mathematical formulas to assess the suitability of books for students at particular grades or ages. Today most readability formulas are based on the difficulty of words and the number of sentences in the text. The most commonly used formulas, the SMOG, Fry, and Flesch-Kincaid, are presented in this module.
Determining the reading level of a piece of health information, however, is only one factor that affects the difficulty or ease of reading. Aspects such as language, writing style, organization of ideas, design, layout and use of graphics are significant contributors to comprehending the material. An overview of these other features for determining whether or not a piece is easy-to-read is also presented.
Objectives:
Participants who complete this module will be able to:
- Describe why readability is important to me as a health professional.
- Describe the characteristics of an easy-to-read document.
- Describe the benefits and limitations of readability tests.
- Calculate readability scores using the SMOG Grading Formula, FRY Readability Graph, and Flesch-Kincaid Formula.
- Describe the Suitability Assessment of Materials tool.
- Explain how the audience, content, organization and structure, and the style and design of a document may affect its readability.
Note: If you need assistance accessing this course, have a disability that requires digitally accessible accommodations, or would like to request a digitally accessible course completion certificate, please email ScarletCanvasMedEd@osumc.edu or call 614-366-0943. We will respond to your request within two business days.
If you are an Ohio State University or Nationwide Children's Hospital employee, you are eligible for a promotion code that waives this course's cost. If you are interested in obtaining the promotion code, please fill out the short form that is linked below: