Comprehensiveness of online sources for patient education on otosclerosis

• Published in: Frontiers in surgery Vol. 11; p. 1327793
• Main Authors: Cırık, Ahmet Adnan, Yiğit, Yeşim Esen, Tekin, Ahmet Mahmut, Duymaz, Yaşar Kemal, Şahin, Şamil, Erkmen, Burak, Topsakal, Vedat
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 24-01-2024
• Subjects: comprehensiveness; online sources; otosclerosis; patient education; readability; Surgery; readability; comprehensiveness; otosclerosis; online sources; patient education
• ISSN: 2296-875X; 2296-875X
• DOI: 10.3389/fsurg.2024.1327793

This study aimed to assess the readability indices of websites including educational materials on otosclerosis.
We performed a Google search on 19 April 2023 using the term "otosclerosis." The first 50 hits were collected and analyzed. The websites were categorized into two groups: websites for health professionals and general websites for patients. Readability indices were calculated using the website https://www.webfx.com/tools/read-able/.
A total of 33 websites were eligible and analyzed (20 health professional-oriented and 13 patient-oriented websites). When patient-oriented websites and health professional-oriented websites were individually analyzed, mean Flesch Reading Ease scores were found to be 52.16 ± 14.34 and 46.62 ± 10.07, respectively. There was no significant difference between the two groups upon statistical analysis.
Current patient educational material available online related to otosclerosis is written beyond the recommended sixth-grade reading level. The quality of good websites is worthless to the patients if they cannot comprehend the text.