As a trainee member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Public Education Editorial Board, I read with interest the review of reader feedback on the College online public education leaflets. Reference Briscoe, Briscoe, Timms and Ramsay1 I was struck by both the popularity of the public information section of the website and the high volume of completed feedback forms. I wondered, however, whether the authors have considered further analysis of the College information leaflets, to identify potential causes for the poorly scoring leaflets that they describe in the article.
The authors refer to an analysis of free-text feedback in which they name the two highest and lowest scoring main leaflets. It is perhaps unsurprising that poorly scoring leaflets would be more likely to receive negative comments, but what interested me most was the example constructive comment in response to the cannabis and mental health leaflet that said ‘It has quite a high reading age’.
If the College information leaflets aim to reach a wide audience, it would seem sensible to establish whether the comment about reading age is in fact true for all leaflets. Is their readability consistent with the recommended level? And have the authors considered analysing whether there is a correlation between the reading age of the highest and lowest scoring leaflets?
A number of papers have looked into the readability of information made available on websites Reference Kalk and Pothier2,Reference Fitzsimmons, Michael, Hulley and Scott3 and in patient information leaflets. Reference Clauson, Zeng-Trietler and Kandula4,Reference Pothier, Day, Harris and Pothier5 According to the literature, a Flesch-Kincaid 6th Grade (equivalent to UK reading age of 11-12 years) is the maximum recommended level for public health information, Reference Briscoe, Briscoe, Timms and Ramsay1 and would be consistent with the average UK reading age quoted as being between 9 and 11 years. Reference Clauson, Zeng-Trietler and Kandula4
There are, of course, a variety of different readability tests that could be used to examine the readability level of the College information leaflets, including Flesch-Kincaid and Flesch Reading Ease and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook formulae. Reference Kalk and Pothier2 Whether or not a correlation exists between readability age and the leaflet scores, I would suggest it is pertinent to clarify whether all the College leaflets are written at a readability level consistent with that recommended for public health information.
Open access
eLetters
No eLetters have been published for this article.