Availability and readability of emergency preparedness materials for deaf and hard-of-hearing and older adult populations: issues and assessments.

A major public health challenge is to communicate effectively with vulnerable populations about preparing for disasters and other health emergencies. People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (Deaf/HH) and older adults are particularly vulnerable during health emergencies and require communications tha...

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Autores principales:	Linda Neuhauser, Susan L Ivey, Debbie Huang, Alina Engelman, Winston Tseng, Donna Dahrouge, Sidhanta Gurung, Melissa Kealey
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/a6ce38eff6614767aa28e4b1726c29e4
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:a6ce38eff6614767aa28e4b1726c29e42021-11-18T07:56:16ZAvailability and readability of emergency preparedness materials for deaf and hard-of-hearing and older adult populations: issues and assessments.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0055614https://doaj.org/article/a6ce38eff6614767aa28e4b1726c29e42013-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23451029/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203A major public health challenge is to communicate effectively with vulnerable populations about preparing for disasters and other health emergencies. People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (Deaf/HH) and older adults are particularly vulnerable during health emergencies and require communications that are accessible and understandable. Although health literacy studies indicate that the readability of health communication materials often exceeds people's literacy levels, we could find no research about the readability of emergency preparedness materials (EPM) intended for Deaf/HH and older adult populations. The objective of this study was to explore issues related to EPM for Deaf/HH and older adult populations, to assess the availability and readability of materials for these populations, and to recommend improvements. In two California counties, we interviewed staff at 14 community-based organizations (CBOs) serving Deaf/HH clients and 20 CBOs serving older adults selected from a stratified, random sample of 227 CBOs. We collected 40 EPM from 10 CBOs and 2 public health departments and 40 EPM from 14 local and national websites with EPM for the public. We used computerized assessments to test the U.S. grade reading levels of the 16 eligible CBO and health department EPM, and the 18 eligible website materials. Results showed that less than half of CBOs had EPM for their clients. All EPM intended for clients of Deaf/HH-serving CBOs tested above the recommended 4(th) grade reading level, and 91% of the materials intended for clients of older adult-serving CBOs scored above the recommended 6(th) grade level. EPM for these populations should be widely available through CBOs and public health departments, adhere to health literacy principles, and be accessible in alternative formats including American Sign Language. Developers should engage the intended users of EPM as co-designers and testers. This study adds to the limited literature about EPM for these populations.Linda NeuhauserSusan L IveyDebbie HuangAlina EngelmanWinston TsengDonna DahrougeSidhanta GurungMelissa KealeyPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 2, p e55614 (2013)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Linda Neuhauser Susan L Ivey Debbie Huang Alina Engelman Winston Tseng Donna Dahrouge Sidhanta Gurung Melissa Kealey Availability and readability of emergency preparedness materials for deaf and hard-of-hearing and older adult populations: issues and assessments.
description	A major public health challenge is to communicate effectively with vulnerable populations about preparing for disasters and other health emergencies. People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (Deaf/HH) and older adults are particularly vulnerable during health emergencies and require communications that are accessible and understandable. Although health literacy studies indicate that the readability of health communication materials often exceeds people's literacy levels, we could find no research about the readability of emergency preparedness materials (EPM) intended for Deaf/HH and older adult populations. The objective of this study was to explore issues related to EPM for Deaf/HH and older adult populations, to assess the availability and readability of materials for these populations, and to recommend improvements. In two California counties, we interviewed staff at 14 community-based organizations (CBOs) serving Deaf/HH clients and 20 CBOs serving older adults selected from a stratified, random sample of 227 CBOs. We collected 40 EPM from 10 CBOs and 2 public health departments and 40 EPM from 14 local and national websites with EPM for the public. We used computerized assessments to test the U.S. grade reading levels of the 16 eligible CBO and health department EPM, and the 18 eligible website materials. Results showed that less than half of CBOs had EPM for their clients. All EPM intended for clients of Deaf/HH-serving CBOs tested above the recommended 4(th) grade reading level, and 91% of the materials intended for clients of older adult-serving CBOs scored above the recommended 6(th) grade level. EPM for these populations should be widely available through CBOs and public health departments, adhere to health literacy principles, and be accessible in alternative formats including American Sign Language. Developers should engage the intended users of EPM as co-designers and testers. This study adds to the limited literature about EPM for these populations.
format	article
author	Linda Neuhauser Susan L Ivey Debbie Huang Alina Engelman Winston Tseng Donna Dahrouge Sidhanta Gurung Melissa Kealey
author_facet	Linda Neuhauser Susan L Ivey Debbie Huang Alina Engelman Winston Tseng Donna Dahrouge Sidhanta Gurung Melissa Kealey
author_sort	Linda Neuhauser
title	Availability and readability of emergency preparedness materials for deaf and hard-of-hearing and older adult populations: issues and assessments.
title_short	Availability and readability of emergency preparedness materials for deaf and hard-of-hearing and older adult populations: issues and assessments.
title_full	Availability and readability of emergency preparedness materials for deaf and hard-of-hearing and older adult populations: issues and assessments.
title_fullStr	Availability and readability of emergency preparedness materials for deaf and hard-of-hearing and older adult populations: issues and assessments.
title_full_unstemmed	Availability and readability of emergency preparedness materials for deaf and hard-of-hearing and older adult populations: issues and assessments.
title_sort	availability and readability of emergency preparedness materials for deaf and hard-of-hearing and older adult populations: issues and assessments.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2013
url	https://doaj.org/article/a6ce38eff6614767aa28e4b1726c29e4
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Availability and readability of emergency preparedness materials for deaf and hard-of-hearing and older adult populations: issues and assessments.

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