NHS Direct Website too complicated for Diabetes Sufferers

Many diabetes sufferers cannot understand the health advice they are given on the NHS Direct Online website and many other internet pages, a new study concludes.

The language of the diabetes pages of the NHS Direct Online site can only be understood by people whose reading ability is well beyond that of the average UK citizen, reports a new survey conducted at the University of Bath. It warns of potential 'serious consequences' of patients misunderstanding the information.

Dr Maged Boulos, of the University of Bath's School for Health, looked at pages about diabetes on 15 internet health sites run mainly by charities and official bodies.

He found that people would need the reading ability of an educated person aged between 11 and 16.8 years old to understand the sites. However the average reading age of UK citizens is only that of the average educated nine year old.

The hardest of the 15 sites to understand was the NHS Direct Online site, needing a reading age of an educated person aged 16.8 years old, but other difficult sites were NetDoctor.co.uk (15.2 years old), the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, UK (15.8) and the British Diabetic Association (14.9).

Sites with a readability score that was close to the reading ability of the average Briton were NHS Prodigy, University College London Hospitals NHS Trust and BestTreatments.

'Sizeable proportions of Western populations have limited language and math skills making it difficult for them to fully and safely understand and act upon online health information,' says Dr Boulos in the study.

He said the study showed that the readability levels, even for the most readable pages in the study, came out as well above the estimated reading age of the UK population in general.

'Much of the currently available online consumer information on diabetes mellitus needs considerable re-writing to match the general reading level of the UK population,' concludes Boulos.

He also recommends that health providers consider other means of getting health information to the public, such as face-to-face education and videos.

The study used the generally accepted Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formulae to test the readability of documents.

Diabetes mellitus is an important public health condition in the UK and elsewhere, accounting for 5% of the English NHS costs.

Dr Boulos work is to be presented on September 16th at the 2nd "HDL 2004: Workshop on Digital Libraries in Healthcare", held at the University of Bath.

Associated Link: Full paper (pdf)

'Internet addiction' linked to Depression
Source: BBC, 9 February 2010
 
There is a strong link between heavy internet use and depression, UK psychologists have said.

Could *You* be more Usable?
Source: UN, 8 February 2010
 
Bet you could.

Stowe Boyd on 'Steampunk' thinking about the Future of Computing
Source: Stowe Boyd's blog via Experientia, 6 February 2010
 
Are established metaphors of user experience holding us back from new ways of structuring our interaction through computers?

Nokia's User Experience Programme
Source: UN, 5 February 2010
 
Nokia has put together a rich and informative website covering the key elements of user experience.

Interfaces magazine: latest issue available now
Source: HCI News Service, 4 February 2010
 
The latest issue of Interfaces is now available in pdf format, free from the Interaction Website.

A Lighter Brigade of Chargers
Source: UN, 3 February 2010
 
Lots of gadgets, one charger. At last.

Mobile Touch Screens could soon Feel the Pressure
Source: MIT Technology Review, 2 February 2010
 
A quantum switch could add pressure sensing to mobile screens.

Usability, Usability, Usability: why the iPad will Succeed
Source: Econsultancy, 1 February 2010
 
The tech critics love it, hate it, love it again, shrug it off. What do usability experts say?

British Airways - at last some good news
Source: Loop11, 30 January 2010
 
In a recent website usability study for the world's leading airlines, the British Airways website proved to be the most user friendly, with Malaysia Airlines and Virgin Atlantic having the lowest user experience rating.

Computation of Emotions in Man and Machine
Source: Royal Society, 29 January 2010
 
Advances in computer technology now allow machines to recognise and express emotions, paving the way for improved human-computer and human-human communications.