Literacy and Readability Rallos

Health Education
Literacy and Readability

By: Pompey Rallos III
What is Literacy and readability ?
Defined As an educated person,

one who is able to read and write
Assessment of the Literacy Problem

How can you recognize if a person is
illiterate or low literate ?
Identifying a literacy problem is not
easy because there is no stereotypical
pattern. It is easy to overlook illiteracy
or low literacy or low because the
problem has no particular face , age,
socioeconomic status, or nationality.
Clues too look out for..

Reacting to complex learning
situations by withdrawal, complete
avoidance, or repeatedly not being
compliant.
Using the excuse that they were too
busy, too tired, too sick, when given
a booklet or instruction sheet to
read.
Claiming that they just did not feel

like reading, that they gave the
information to their spouse to take
home , or that they lost. Forgot, or
broke their glasses.
Surrounding themselves with books,
magazine, and newspaper to give the
impression they are able to read.
Asking you to read the information

for them with the excuse that their
eyes are bothersome, they lack
interest, or they do not have the
energy that their eyes are
bothersome, they lack interest, or
they do not have the energy to learn.
Acting confused, talking out of
context, or holding reading materials
upside down.
Standing in location clearly

designated for authorized
personnel only
Listening and watching very

attentively to observe and memorize
how things work
Demonstrating difficulty with

following instructions about relatively
simple activities such as operating
the electric bed, call light, and other
simple equipment, even when the
instructions are clearly printed on
them.
Failing to ask any questions about
the information they received.
Not only do illiterate patients become confused

and frustrated in their attempts to deal with
written and verbal information, but they also
become stressed in their efforts to cover up their
disability.
An awareness of this possibility and good skills at
observation are key to diagnosing illiteracy or low
literacy in the patient population. Early diagnosis
will enbable nurses to intervene appropriately to
avoid disservice to illiterate patients, who do not
need condemnation, but support and
encouragement from every nurse.
Readability of Printed Education

Materials
A substantial body of evidence
indicates that there is a significant
gap between patients reading and
understanding levels and the level of
reading difficulty of PEMs (portable
emissions measurement system).
Nurses are beginning to recognize
that the written materials relied on
by so many of them to convey health
information to consumers who are
Measurement tools to rest the

readability of written materials
Readability formulas are
mathematical equations that
measure the correlation between the
authors style writing and readers skill
at decoding words as printed
symbols. Most of them predict a
grade level of reading difficulty of
material based on analysis of
sentence structure and the length of
words.
Readability formulas should not be

the only tool for assessing the
difficulty of level of PEMs.
At least two formulas should be
applied to any given piece of written
material and the results should be
averaged to yield an overall reading
grade level score.
Flesch Formula
The Flesch formula is based on a
count of two basic language
elements: average sentence length
in words and average word length
measured as syllables per word in
selected samples.
Flesch formula is to measure
readability of materials between
grade five and college level.
Fog Index
This formula is appropriate for the
readability of materials from fourth
grade to college level.
It is calculated based on average
sentence length and the percentage
of syllables in words in a 100 word
passage.
Fry readability Graphextended

This test materials at the level of
grade one through college.
This formula plots two language
elements. The number of syllables
and the number of sentences in
three 100 word selections.
SMOG formula
Used extensively to judge level
readability of patient education materials.
It has simple directions and can measure
the reading grade level of materials that
contain as few as 10 sentences.
SMOG measures readability from grade
four to college level. Smog formula is
recommended cause it is one of the most
valid test of readability

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Health Education

Literacy and Readability

What is Literacy and readability ?

Defined As an educated person,

Assessment of the Literacy Problem

Clues too look out for..

Claiming that they just did not feel

Asking you to read the information

Standing in location clearly

Listening and watching very

Demonstrating difficulty with

Not only do illiterate patients become confused

Readability of Printed Education

Measurement tools to rest the

Readability formulas should not be

Fry readability Graphextended

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