Health Services: A Mixed Methods Assessment of Canadian Cancer Patient Education Materials Related to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus
The 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has prompted the reorganization in the scheduling and method of care for many patients, including patients diagnosed with cancer. Cancer patients, who have an immunocompromised status, may be at a higher risk of severe symptoms from infection with COVID...
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crsagepubl:10.1177/1073274821989709 2023-05-15T17:22:48+02:00 Health Services: A Mixed Methods Assessment of Canadian Cancer Patient Education Materials Related to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus van Ballegooie, Courtney Hoang, Peter Canadian Institutes of Health Research 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1073274821989709 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1073274821989709 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/1073274821989709 en eng SAGE Publications https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ CC-BY-NC Cancer Control volume 28, page 107327482198970 ISSN 1073-2748 1073-2748 Oncology Hematology General Medicine journal-article 2021 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/1073274821989709 2022-04-14T04:35:14Z The 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has prompted the reorganization in the scheduling and method of care for many patients, including patients diagnosed with cancer. Cancer patients, who have an immunocompromised status, may be at a higher risk of severe symptoms from infection with COVID-19. While information is rapidly evolving regarding COVID-19, Canada, both nationally and provincially, has been conveying new information to patients online. We assessed the content and readability of COVID-19-related online Canadian patient education material (PEM) for cancer patients to determine if the content of the material was written at a grade reading level that the majority of Canadians can understand. PEMs were extracted from provincial cancer agencies and the national Canadian Cancer Society, evaluated using 10 readability scales, qualitatively analyzed to identify their themes and difficult word content. Thirty-eight PEMs from both national and provincial cancers associations were, on average, written above the recommended 7th grade level. Each of the associations’ average grade levels were: BC Cancer (11.00 95% confidence interval [CI] 8.27-13.38), CancerControl Alberta (10.46 95% CI 8.29-12.62), Saskatchewan Cancer Agency (11.08 95% CI 9.37-12.80), Cancer Care Manitoba (9.55 95% CI 6.02-13.01), Cancer Care Ontario (9.35 95% CI 6.80-11.90), Cancer Care Nova Scotia (10.95 95% CI 9.86-12.04), Cancer Care Eastern Health Newfoundland and Labrador (10.14 95% CI 6.87-13.41), and the Canadian Cancer Society (10.06 95% CI 8.07-12.05). Thematic analysis identified 4 themes: public health strategy, information about COVID-19, patient instructions during COVID-19, and resources. Fifty-three percent of the complex words identified were medical jargon. This represents an opportunity to improve PEM readability, to allow for greater comprehension amongst a wider target audience. Article in Journal/Newspaper Newfoundland SAGE Publications (via Crossref) Canada Newfoundland Cancer Control 28 107327482198970 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
SAGE Publications (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crsagepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Oncology Hematology General Medicine |
spellingShingle |
Oncology Hematology General Medicine van Ballegooie, Courtney Hoang, Peter Health Services: A Mixed Methods Assessment of Canadian Cancer Patient Education Materials Related to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus |
topic_facet |
Oncology Hematology General Medicine |
description |
The 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has prompted the reorganization in the scheduling and method of care for many patients, including patients diagnosed with cancer. Cancer patients, who have an immunocompromised status, may be at a higher risk of severe symptoms from infection with COVID-19. While information is rapidly evolving regarding COVID-19, Canada, both nationally and provincially, has been conveying new information to patients online. We assessed the content and readability of COVID-19-related online Canadian patient education material (PEM) for cancer patients to determine if the content of the material was written at a grade reading level that the majority of Canadians can understand. PEMs were extracted from provincial cancer agencies and the national Canadian Cancer Society, evaluated using 10 readability scales, qualitatively analyzed to identify their themes and difficult word content. Thirty-eight PEMs from both national and provincial cancers associations were, on average, written above the recommended 7th grade level. Each of the associations’ average grade levels were: BC Cancer (11.00 95% confidence interval [CI] 8.27-13.38), CancerControl Alberta (10.46 95% CI 8.29-12.62), Saskatchewan Cancer Agency (11.08 95% CI 9.37-12.80), Cancer Care Manitoba (9.55 95% CI 6.02-13.01), Cancer Care Ontario (9.35 95% CI 6.80-11.90), Cancer Care Nova Scotia (10.95 95% CI 9.86-12.04), Cancer Care Eastern Health Newfoundland and Labrador (10.14 95% CI 6.87-13.41), and the Canadian Cancer Society (10.06 95% CI 8.07-12.05). Thematic analysis identified 4 themes: public health strategy, information about COVID-19, patient instructions during COVID-19, and resources. Fifty-three percent of the complex words identified were medical jargon. This represents an opportunity to improve PEM readability, to allow for greater comprehension amongst a wider target audience. |
author2 |
Canadian Institutes of Health Research |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
van Ballegooie, Courtney Hoang, Peter |
author_facet |
van Ballegooie, Courtney Hoang, Peter |
author_sort |
van Ballegooie, Courtney |
title |
Health Services: A Mixed Methods Assessment of Canadian Cancer Patient Education Materials Related to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus |
title_short |
Health Services: A Mixed Methods Assessment of Canadian Cancer Patient Education Materials Related to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus |
title_full |
Health Services: A Mixed Methods Assessment of Canadian Cancer Patient Education Materials Related to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus |
title_fullStr |
Health Services: A Mixed Methods Assessment of Canadian Cancer Patient Education Materials Related to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus |
title_full_unstemmed |
Health Services: A Mixed Methods Assessment of Canadian Cancer Patient Education Materials Related to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus |
title_sort |
health services: a mixed methods assessment of canadian cancer patient education materials related to the 2019 novel coronavirus |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1073274821989709 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1073274821989709 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/1073274821989709 |
geographic |
Canada Newfoundland |
geographic_facet |
Canada Newfoundland |
genre |
Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland |
op_source |
Cancer Control volume 28, page 107327482198970 ISSN 1073-2748 1073-2748 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1073274821989709 |
container_title |
Cancer Control |
container_volume |
28 |
container_start_page |
107327482198970 |
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1766109664084230144 |