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. 1989 Feb;79(2):204–206. doi: 10.2105/ajph.79.2.204

Patient literacy and the readability of smoking education literature.

C D Meade 1, J C Byrd 1
PMCID: PMC1349937  PMID: 2913844

Abstract

This study was designed to determine if primary care clinic patients read at a level congruent to the reading grade level of available smoking literature. Reading estimates of smoking education literature (N = 49) ranged from grade 3 to college level (median = 9.5). Reading skills of 258 smoking patients were estimated by reported years of schooling (median = 10), and by scores on the Wide-Range Achievement Test (median = 6). A serious disparity existed between the reading estimates of smoking education literature and the literacy skills of patients in our sample.

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Selected References

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