Table 1 Readability level definitionsa
Expert | Consumer | |
|---|---|---|
Easy | The sentence contains few medical vocabulary and all used by the average consumer. The syntactic constructions of the sentence is similar to that used by the average consumer. The average consumer can understand the sentence without any help. | The sentence contains few medical vocabulary and all familiar to you. The syntactic constructions of the sentence is similar to structure that you would write. You can understand the sentence without any help. |
Intermediate | The sentence contains medical vocabulary used in consumer health education. The syntactic constructions of the sentence is used typically in consumer health education materials. The sentence is understood as consumer health education. | The sentence contains medical vocabulary that some are unfamiliar to you. The sentence has a structure that you can understand. You can understand the sentence with the help of references or your friends or family. |
Difficult | The sentence contains medical vocabulary typically used by health professionals. The syntactic constructions of the sentence is typically used by health professionals. Only medical professionals can understand this sentence. | The sentence contains many medical terms you do not understand. The sentence has a structure that health professionals would write. Only medical professionals can understand this sentence. |