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Assessing the Readability of Covid-19 Testing Messages on the Internet
- Source :
- Journal of Community Health
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2021.
-
Abstract
- The COVID-19 pandemic first became evident at the end of 2019, and because of the many unknown aspects of this emerging infectious disease, the internet quickly became a source of information for consumers. It is important for any vital information to be written unambiguously, and at a level that can be understood by all people regardless of education levels. The purpose of this study was to assess the readability of 50 sources of COVID19 testing information online. Only 6 websites out of 50 received an appropriate readability score on more than one assessment. One-sample, one-tailed t-tests (α = 0.05, df = 49) were used to see if the websites with information on COVID-19 testing are being written at appropriate reading levels. The resulting p-values indicate that each p-value recorded is substantially below 0.05, it is very unlikely that websites on this topic are being written at the recommended levels. Even the optimal messages on COVID-19 reflect a confusing and rapidly changing public health crisis, however if messages are kept simple and clear, individuals will have the best possible chance of optimizing behavioral mitigation strategies. These are compelling reasons for informational hosts to take necessary steps to ensure that messages are written in as simple terms as possible. To this end, it is suggested that internet sites dispersing COVID-19 testing information build in text analysis methods for all published messages, particularly those meant to inform best health practices in the time of a pandemic.
- Subjects :
- 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak
medicine.medical_specialty
Health (social science)
020205 medical informatics
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Computer science
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
media_common.quotation_subject
Internet privacy
02 engineering and technology
Readability
03 medical and health sciences
COVID-19 Testing
0302 clinical medicine
Reading (process)
Pandemic
0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
medicine
Humans
Online
030212 general & internal medicine
Pandemics
media_common
Internet
Original Paper
SARS-CoV-2
business.industry
Public health
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
COVID-19
Health Literacy
The Internet
Comprehension
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15733610 and 00945145
- Volume :
- 46
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Community Health
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....3b55f1c22efd9d2b0499eb0558e7892b