Department of Medicine, University of Wollongong, Australia
Research Article
Readability, Understandability and Action ability of Written Information Available for Patients Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer
Author(s): Timothy A Skyring, Kylie J Mansfield* and Judy R Mullan
Context: Following a diagnosis of prostate cancer men need to be able to read, understand and take action based on information accessed if they are to take part in the decision making process about their treatment options. However much of this information is written at a level beyond the health literacy of this group of men. Objectives and design: By means of cross sectional survey this study investigated the health literacy of men diagnosed with prostate cancer and the information sources they accessed. The readability, understand ability and actionability of prostate cancer information sources were also assessed. Results: Responses were received from 151 men (44% response rate), with a median age of 67 years, 21% with inadequate health literacy and most of whom had chosen surgery as their active treatment (56%). The majority of the respondents (80%) accessed four or more different i.. View More»