READABILITY ANALYSIS OF INTERNET-BASED PATIENT INFORMATION REGARDING DIZZINESS
1Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi, Tıp Fakültesi/KBB, Samsun, Türkiye2Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi, Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi/Odyoloji, Samsun, Türkiye Objective: The focus of readability is to quantify the difficulty of reading a text using various mathematical formulas. The purpose of this study is to determine the readability levels of patient information texts about dizziness that are available on the internet.
Materials and Methods: The keyword "dizziness" was searched using the Google search engine and the first 100 websites that appeared in the search result were examined. The numbers of syllables, words and sentences in the texts were copied and the number of words over four syllables were calculated. Readability values were calculated using the Ateşman and Çetinkaya formulas.
The evaluated sites were classified based on their source (personal information site / hospital site / newspaper / company) and author (ENT physician / not ENT physician / Has / does not have an academic title).
Results: The texts on all sites included in the study were found to be "easy to read" (median = 74.5; min-max = 54.0-87.9) according to Ateşman score. According to the Çetinkaya score "can be read at the educational level" (mean ± SD = 72.3±11.6) and 8-9. It was at a level that people who had been educated up to the class could understand. There was no difference in terms of readability scores and levels when compared according to the 100 site sources and authors included in the study.
Conclusion: Considering our country's average education level in terms of health literacy, it is a positive situation that sources about "dizziness" are "easy to read." The fact that physician or hospital-based sites are similarly readable compared to other sites can enable patients to access accurate and quality information more easily.
Keywords : Dizziness, readability, health literacy