Recorded presentation

Sally L. Maliski, PhD, RN¹, Annie Walling, MD¹, Debra Weintraub, MPH¹, Alex Bogorad², and Mark S. Litwin, MD, MPH³. (1) University of California, Los Angeles, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, Rm. CHS A2-125, Los Angeles, CA 90095, 310-794-4084, smaliski@mednet.ucla.edu, (2) Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, (3) Urology, University of California, Los Angeles, Box 951738, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1738

Written educational materials serve as important teaching instruments for prostate cancer patients and their families. However, they must be understandable for their intended audiences and be accurate and complete. We examined readily available prostate cancer brochures and pamphlets using the Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM) tool for the materials’ overall suitability, readability, and cultural appropriateness, and an investigator-developed assessment tool for completeness and accuracy. Our evaluation of 29 materials demonstrated that the majority, 22 (75.8%), scored “adequate” for their overall suitability. However, 26 materials (90%) scored “not suitable” for their reading grade level, while 55% of the materials could not be rated on cultural appropriateness because of lack of cues about the intended audience. Also, many of the materials scored poorly on content, graphics, self-efficacy, and learning motivation and stimulation. Most of the materials did well with typography and layout. We also found that while most of the available prostate cancer education materials are factually accurate, many omit information that is important and relevant to patients with prostate cancer as they make treatment decisions and manage their care. Overall, the findings point to the need to carefully assess written materials used for multicultural audiences with low reading ability and for their contents completeness and accuracy.

Learning Objectives:

• Acquire skills in the evaluation of patient education materials for suitability in low literacy populations.
• Acquire skills in the evaluation of patient education materials for accuracy and completeness of health information conveyed.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation