[Australia] Online plain language tool and health information quality-A randomized clinical trial

[Australia] Online plain language tool and health information quality-A randomized clinical trial
JAMA Network Open; Julie Ayre, PhD; Carissa Bonner, PhD; Danielle M. Muscat, PhD; Erin Cvejic, PhD; Olivia Mac, MPH; Dana Mouwad, MHSc (Nsg); Heather L. Shepherd, PhD; Parisa Aslani, PhD; Adam G. Dunn, PhD; Kirsten J. McCaffery, PhD; 10/24
National and international policies recognize that health literacy—a person’s capacity to access, understand, and act on health information—is a critical source of inequity in our health systems. Low health literacy contributes to higher mortality, morbidity, rates of hospitalization, emergency department visits, and medication errors independently of other social determinants of health, such as age, education, and socioeconomic disadvantage. In this randomized clinical trial, the Health Literacy Editor helped users simplify health information and apply health literacy guidelines to written text. The findings suggest the tool has high potential to improve development of health information for people who have low health literacy.