Table 2. PEMAT results for influenza patient education materials.
PEMAT: Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool; PEMAT-P: Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Printable Materials
| Understandability and Actionability (PEMAT-P) Scoring Criteria | Number of articles (n=18) |
| The material makes its purpose completely evident. | 18 |
| The material does not include information or content that distracts from its purpose. | 17 |
| The material uses common, everyday language. | 17 |
| Medical terms are used only to familiarize audience with the terms. When used, medical terms are defined. | 16 |
| The material uses the active voice. | 16 |
| Numbers appearing in the material are clear and easy to understand. (No numbers = N/A) | 13/17 |
| The material does not expect the user to perform calculations. | 18 |
| The material breaks or "chunks" information into short sections. (Very short material = N/A) | 17/17 |
| The material's sections have informative headers. (Very short material = N/A) | 17/17 |
| The material presents information in a logical sequence. | 18 |
| The material provides a summary. (Very short material = N/A) | 2/17 |
| The material uses visual cues (e.g., arrows, boxes, bullets, bold, larger font, highlighting) to draw attention to key points. | 13 |
| The material uses visual aids whenever they could make content more easily understood (e.g., illustration of healthy portion size). | 8 |
| The material’s visual aids reinforce rather than distract from the content. (No visual aids = N/A) | 6/8 |
| The material’s visual aids have clear titles or captions. (No visual aids = N/A) | 4/8 |
| The material uses illustrations and photographs that are clear and uncluttered. (No visual aids = N/A) | 8/8 |
| The material uses simple tables with short and clear row and column headings. (No tables = N/A) | N/A |
| The material clearly identifies at least one action the user can take. | 14 |
| The material addresses the user directly when describing actions. | 13 |
| The material breaks down any action into manageable, explicit steps. | 14 |
| The material provides a tangible tool (e.g., menu planners, checklists) whenever it could help the user take action. | 2 |
| The material provides simple instructions or examples of how to perform calculations. (No calculations = N/A) | N/A |
| The material explains how to use the charts, graphs, tables, or diagrams to take actions. (No charts, graphs, tables, or diagrams = N/A) | N/A |
| The material uses visual aids whenever they could make it easier to act on the instructions | 3 |