Evaluating the Readability of Online Consumer Health Information Regarding Macular Degeneration

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Last Modified
  • February 28, 2019
Creator
  • Bartiss, Kelsey
    • Affiliation: School of Information and Library Science
Abstract
  • As consumers search for an increasing amount of health information online, it is important for the information that they find to not only be accurate, but written in an appropriate and accessible level of readability. Eight consumer health information websites were selected and a portion of text from each on the topic of macular degeneration, an eye disease that affects many older Americans and can result in the loss of central vision, was evaluated. The readability of the text was calculated using two tests: the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Index and the Flesch Reading Ease test. These calculations confirmed expectations that online consumer health information for macular degeneration is incomprehensible for a sizeable segment of the American population. According to the results, this information is written on average at a reading level of nearly the eleventh grade.
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Rights statement
  • In Copyright
Advisor
  • Gollop, Claudia
Degree
  • Master of Science in Information Science
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Extent
  • 33
Deposit record
  • 2982d1d2-f44a-4c85-ae44-dbed9b319cdb

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