Professional Experience Placement

Although the use of the Internet is widespread with 16 million Australians estimated to be online with almost 80% of them seeking health information using this medium, studies in other countries have found that readability of online health information is above the average reading ability of adults. This study on health literacy and the internet by Cheng and Dunn (2015) was undertaken to investigate the Australian situation. It assessed the readability of 251 web pages on 12 common health conditions. Readability was assessed using the Simple Measure of gobbledygook (SMOG) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas. A grade 8 reading level was adopted for use.

The authors provide a detailed description of the methods employed to collect and analyse the data. The authors also provide detailed information about readability by health condition and by sector. The study found the average of Australian online health information was written two to four grades higher than the benchmark of grade 8 recommended. This finding has serious implications for people’s understanding and self-management of health conditions.  Additionally, reading habits for using the web are different to reading printed material. Web users tend to browse web pages before deciding to read on. Users make rapid  decisions  about whether the information is useful or difficult to understand and may abandon web pages that are not appealing within the first few paragraphs.

This study found information on dementia  and obesity were the most difficult to read and comprehend. Information from Government sites that are perceived to be credible were the most difficult to read. This finding is of concern due to the social inequities of these groups and has implications for managing health promotion and education.

These findings indicate clinical supervisors need to be aware of health litereacy issues. Students need to be aware that health literacy of their clients or patients may vary and accessing credible information may be difficult for some of them. Student nurses need to be aware of their own level of health literacy and Internet proficiency. Clinical supervisors can guide students and patients in accessing and comprehending health information and enabling adjunct methods such as video or print material to augment learning. Understanding different learning styles can also assist students and clients or patients to access information. Clinical supervisors play a vital role in enabling students and their clients to access health information and improve their health literacy.

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