Readability of vaccine information
Citation: Okuhara T, Ishikawa H, Ueno H, et al. Readability assessment of vaccine information: a systematic review for addressing vaccine hesitancy. Patient Education and Counseling. 2022;105(2):331-338.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: No.
Funding sources: This research is reported to be supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI.
What is this? In this systematic review, the authors searched for studies that examined the readability of vaccine information in both online and offline materials. They did not restrict their searches by date, type, or language of publication. The authors searched in September 2020 and identified 12 studies from Australia (1), Canada (2), Japan (2), and the USA (7).
What was found: The readability of vaccine information was found to be higher than an 8th level of reading. Very little information was presented at or below the recommended 5th to 6th level of reading. Anti-vaccination messages were substantially easier to read than pro-vaccine messages.
Implications: The authors of this review stated that difficulty reading vaccine information may influence vaccine hesitancy. They recommended that healthcare professionals use guidelines and tools to create easy-to-read vaccine information.
Other considerations: The authors of the review did not discuss their findings in the context of issues relating to health equity.
This summary was prepared by Surya Ramachandran, checked by Sydney Johnson, and finalized by William Summerskill.