New AHRQ Health Literacy Tool for Patient Education Materials

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has created a new tool to “asses the understandability and actionability of print and audiovisual patient education materials”, entitled the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (or PEMAT). Patient education materials such as brochures and other aids are often complex and difficult for patients to understand, especially across various healthcare providers. This tool is designed to help  health care providers, health librarians, and other health professionals in charge of providing materials to consumers evaluate their print and audiovisual materials. If the materials meet a certain score, then most patients and consumers should be able to understand these materials and act on the information provided.  The AHRQ website includes the instrument that can be used for both print and audiovisual materials, as well as a user guide and instructions on scoring. To access or find more information regarding the PEMAT, visit the AHRQ PEMAT webpage.
Source: Network News - Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tags: General (all entries) Public Health Source Type: news