Background:

Increasingly, much health information is available online, and almost 80% of Australian Internet users seeking out health information online; as such, the readability of these webpages is important. This is the first study to systematically evaluate the readability of Australian online health information, with the aim to determine if it matches the reading level of the general population

Methods:

A cross-sectional study design was employed to measure the readability of health information of Australian health websites from the government, non-government, and not-for-profit sectors. The literacy level of grade 8 was used as the benchmark, representing the average reading level of Australians. To simulate the search of an average consumer, webpages of 12 common health conditions were identified using search terms in Google and Bing. The websites were assessed for readability by using the Flesch-Kincaid grade level (FKGL), SMOG grade level, and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) measure.

Results/Discussions:

Two hundred and fifty-one webpages met the inclusion criteria. The average reading level of the webpages was 10.54 using FKGL and 12.12 according to SMOG, both of which are above the grade 8 benchmark.  The mean FRE was 47.54, a score considered ‘difficult’.  Only 8.4% of the webpages were written at or below a grade 8 level as measured by FKGL; this percentage falls to 0.4% if assessed by SMOG.  Information on dementia was the most difficult to read on the whole while obesity was the hardest among government websites. 

Conclusions/implications:

The findings suggest that Australian health websites are written at a level above the average reading grade. A quantifiable guideline is needed to ensure that health information is comprehensible to the general public.  Further studies are warranted to gain deeper insight into the online needs of consumers to fully utilise the Internet as an enabler of health literacy.

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