Assessment of the Readability, Adequacy, and Suitability of Online Patient Education Resources for Benign Vascular Tumours Using the DISCERN Instrument

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to assess the quality and readability of Internet-based patient resources for vascular tumours in order to understand which areas require improvement. Methods: A World Wide Web search was performed, in addition to a literature review using PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, and EMBASE. Any material that contained information on vascular tumours pertaining to patient education was included. We evaluated resources with DISCERN and Flesch Reading Ease scores when applicable. The language of publication was restricted to English and French. This review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42018087885). Results: A total of 117 online resources were screened, with 73 resources included in the final analysis. The overall DISCERN rating for the patient resources was 1.8 (0.8). The majority of online resources failed to depict the entire spectrum of benign vascular tumours. The mean Flesch score was 36 (19), which translates to a college-level readability. Conclusion: The majority of resources were not adequate or comprehensive and were written at a much higher level than the average reader would be expected to comprehend.