Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37270932›Full record

ArticlePatient education and counseling2023

Readability and beyond - Health literacy and numeracy and COVID-19 communications in early childhood education: Are we communicating effectively?

Maria R Dahm, Rebecca Bull, Lauren Sadow, Dung Tran, Yvonne Zurynski, Janaki Amin, Fay Hadley, Linda J Harrison, Manjula Waniganayake, Sandie Wong and 1 more

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Patient education and counseling, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
1.3field-weighted citation impact, top 19% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Maria R DahmInstitute for Communication in Health Care, College of Arts and Social Science, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Electronic address: maria.dahm@anu.edu.au.
Rebecca BullMacquarie School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Lauren SadowInstitute for Communication in Health Care, College of Arts and Social Science, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia; Macquarie School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Dung TranMacquarie School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Yvonne ZurynskiAustralian Institute of Health Innovation and the NHMRC Partnership Centre for Health System Sustainability, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Janaki AminDepartment of Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Fay HadleyMacquarie School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Linda J HarrisonMacquarie School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Manjula WaniganayakeMacquarie School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Sandie WongMacquarie School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Sheila DegotardiMacquarie School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Macquarie University · AUAustralian National University · AUNational Health and Medical Research Council · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveAnalyse the linguistic and numerical complexity of COVID-19-related health information communicated from Australian national and state governments and health agencies to national and local early childhood education (ECE) settings.

methodsPublicly available health information (n = 630) was collected from Australian national and state governments and health agencies, and ECE agencies and service providers. A purposive sample of documents (n = 33) from 2020 to 2021 was analysed inductively and deductively combining readability, health numeracy and linguistic analyses and focusing on the most frequent actionable health advice topics.

resultsCOVID-19 health advice most frequently related to hygiene, distancing and exclusion. Readability scores in 79% (n = 23) of documents were above the recommended grade 6 reading level for the public. Advice was delivered using direct linguistic strategies (n = 288), indirect strategies (n = 73), and frequent mitigating hedges (n = 142). Most numerical concepts were relatively simple, but lacked elaborative features (e.g., analogies) and/or required subjective interpretation.

conclusionCOVID-19 health advice available to the ECE sector included linguistic and numerical information open to mis/interpretation making it difficult to understand and implement. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Combining readability scores with measures of linguistic and numerical complexity offers a more holistic approach to assessing accessibility of health advice and improving health literacy among its recipients.

Indexed as

COVID-19Health LiteracyAustraliaChild, PreschoolComprehensionHumansInternet

Identifiers

PMID37270932
PMCPMC10210820
OpenAlexW4378191235

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.