Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Abraham S. Fischler College of Education
Advisor
Francisca Uvah
Committee Member
Scherrine Davenport
Committee Member
Ronald P. Kern
Keywords
Black diabetic patients, cultural suitability, diabetes education, health education, health materials, health literacy, illiteracy, literacy, patient education, printed health information, readability, reading comprehension, reading grade level, Simple Measure of Gobbledygook, SMOG, South Florida, Suitability Assessment of Materials, suitability, surveys, interviews
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to explore the effects of suitability and readability of printed health information materials on a sample of Black diabetic patients in South Florida to determine if the printed health information materials they were given were composed at an appropriate reading level between sixth and eighth grade and were culturally suitable.
The researcher developed a survey instrument and an interview instrument to determine the participants’ viewpoint on diabetic printed health information materials that they were given. Furthermore, the researcher gathered 10 diabetic printed health information materials that the participants were given and applied the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) assessment to determine the reading grade level of the printed health information materials. Also, the Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM) assessment was applied to determine the suitability of the collected printed health information materials.
An analysis of the data revealed that 50% of the printed health information materials that the participants were given were written at a high reading grade level at or above the 10th grade. Additionally, 70% of the printed health information materials received a rating of Superior suitability. However, the printed materials lacked a summary statement and problems or questions for reader response which would increase interaction and aid the reader in retaining information. Furthermore, the materials did not reflect the Black culture. It is recommended that developers of printed health information materials create education materials geared towards the Black diabetic population that takes reading grade level and culture into account.