Do Your General Public Users Understand the Covid-19 Health Information You Have Provided? A Content Analytical Study

Objectives

Because uncertainty, great fear, conspiracy theories, and distrust are associated with the current COVID-19 pandemic, people need access to accurate and easy-to-understand information to help them act appropriately. Major health organizations in the U.S., such as the NLM and the Mayo Clinic, have created web portals to rapidly release authoritative COVID-19 health information to a large population. These resources published via MedlinePlus and Mayo Clinic have been widely promoted for user access in public libraries. It is essential to examine whether these authoritative COVID-19 health information resources facilitate health information access by adults from the general public.

Methods (

This study examines the levels of readability and comprehension of the COVID-19 health information distributed via MedlinePlus and by the Mayo Clinic. The research design for this study is based on Savolainen's everyday life information concepts and Dervin's sense-making methodology. The research purposes are to 1) better understand the connections between readability levels and consumer health information comprehension; 2) investigate whether the authoritative COVID-19 health information provided can support the evidence-based health information access activities of adults from the general public. The sample populations analyzed are identified through accessing the COVID-19 health information shared on the public library systems' websites of the twenty largest cities in the United States. Microsoft Office software is utilized for content analysis and to calculate the averages of the readability scores of the COVID-19 health information provided by the targeted organizations.

Results

The study examines the reading level of the resources to see if they are compatible with the guidelines of the American Medical Association (AMA) for patient education materials (i.e., at a sixth-grade level). The results show that the documents reviewed in the study are not compatible with this reading level. Information provided via MedlinePlus and the Mayo Clinic must be made easy to understand and access.

Conclusions

This study shows the readability levels of the commonly used authoritative COVID-19 consumer health information distributed via MedlinePlus and by the Mayo Clinic) are higher than the AMA recommendations for patient education materials. Most of the public libraries and public librarians are not aware of the use of MedlinePlus for user services; education programs must be provided to public librarians and the general public to promote the awareness of MedlinePlus and MedlinePlus Español. Publishers, such as the National Library of Medicine, must strive to lower the readability levels of their COVID-19 consumer health information.