Table 2.
Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool understandability and actionability scoring criteria [21].
| Item | Item response | Options | ||||
| Understandability | ||||||
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Topic: content | |||||
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1 | The material makes its purpose completely evident. | Disagree=0, Agree=1 | ||
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2 | The material does not include information or content that distracts from its purpose. | Disagree=0, Agree=1 | ||
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Topic: word choice and style | |||||
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3 | The material uses common, everyday language. | Disagree=0, Agree=1 | ||
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4 | Medical terms are used only to familiarize audience with the terms. When used, medical terms are defined. | Disagree=0, Agree=1 | ||
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5 | The material uses the active voice. | Disagree=0, Agree=1 | ||
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Topic: use of numbers | |||||
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6 | Numbers appearing in the material are clear and easy to understand. | Disagree=0, Agree=1, No numbers=N/Aa | ||
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7 | The material does not expect the user to perform calculations. | Disagree=0, Agree=1 | ||
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Topic: organization | |||||
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8 | The material breaks or “chunks” information into short sections. | Disagree=0, Agree=1, Very short materialb=N/A | ||
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9 | The material’s sections have informative headers. | Disagree=0, Agree=1, Very short materialb=N/A | ||
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10 | The material presents information in a logical sequence. | Disagree=0, Agree=1 | ||
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11 | The material provides a summary. | Disagree=0, Agree=1, Very short materialb=N/A | ||
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Topic: layout and designc | |||||
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12 | The material uses visual cues (eg, arrows, boxes, bullets, bold, larger font, and highlighting) to draw attention to key points. | Disagree=0, Agree=1, Video=N/A | ||
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Topic: use of visual aids | |||||
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15 | The material uses visual aids whenever they could make content more easily understood (eg, illustration of a healthy portion size). | Disagree=0, Agree=1 | ||
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16 | The material’s visual aids reinforce rather than distract from the content. | Disagree=0, Agree=1, No visual aids=N/A | ||
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17 | The material’s visual aids have clear titles or captions. | Disagree=0, Agree=1, No visual aids=N/A | ||
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18 | The material uses illustrations and photographs that are clear and uncluttered. | Disagree=0, Agree=1, No visual aids=N/A | ||
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19 | The material uses simple tables with short and clear row and column headings. | Disagree=0, Agree=1, No tables=N/A | ||
| Actionability | ||||||
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20 | The material clearly identifies at least one action the user can take. | Disagree=0, Agree=1 | ||
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21 | The material addresses the user directly when describing actions. | Disagree=0, Agree=1 | ||
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22 | The material breaks down any action into manageable, explicit steps. | Disagree=0, Agree=1 | ||
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23 | The material provides a tangible tool (eg, menu planners and checklists) whenever it could help the user take action. | Disagree=0, Agree=1 | ||
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24 | The material provides simple instructions or examples of how to perform calculations. | Disagree=0, Agree=1, No calculations=N/A | ||
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25 | The material explains how to use the charts, graphs, tables, or diagrams to take action. | Disagree=0, Agree=1, No charts, graphs, tables, or diagrams=N/A | ||
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26 | The material uses visual aids whenever they could make it easier to act on the instructions. | Disagree=0, Agree=1 | ||
aN/A: not applicable.
bA very short print material is defined as a material with ≤2 paragraphs and no more than 1 page in length.
cThese items are only used for audiovisual material.