Evaluate the readability, understandability, actionability, and clarity of freely available online patient education materials (PEM) on seizure rescue medications.

Low health literacy can negatively impact the treatment of acute seizures in non-medical settings. Specifically, proper administration of seizure rescue medications can be affected when there are gaps in understanding by caregivers. The American Medical Association (AMA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommend that PEMs are written at or below the sixth and eighth grade reading levels, respectively. The Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) scale approximates the grade or education level needed to understand written materials, but it does not assess other critical aspects of overall text difficulty. When coupled with the SMOG scale, the Patient ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉú Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) and the Clear Communication Index (CCI) provide a complete assessment of the understandability, actionability, and clarity of PEMs. 

To identify PEMs, we conducted an environmental scan of academic databases, professional organizations, patient-facing databases, and a consumer search engine. We applied three validated health literacy tools (SMOG, PEMAT, and CCI) to each PEM and analyzed correlations between scores.

A total of 40 PEMs met inclusion criteria – 18 from a consumer search engine, 14 from professional organizations, and 8 from patient-facing databases. Among all PEMs, the average SMOG score was 12.01 (SD ±1.38), (range 8.8 - 14.9).