An evaluation of readable preventive health messages.

Distributing printed preventive health material has not been shown to change patient behavior. The lack of effect could be due to unreadable or boring materials. This could be corrected by choosing appropriate literature for each patient. A computer program was written to print booklets of relevant preventive health information matched by SMOG or Spache readability scores to a patient's self-reported educational level. The system was evaluated by printing booklets for 81 randomly selected new patients entering a family practice residency clinic setting, using the clinic's health history questionnaire to choose relevant preventive health information. After three months, patients showed no increase in obtaining flexible sigmoidoscopy, diphtheria-tetanus boosters, or cholesterol screens, when compared to 213 control patients. Use of readability matched materials in patient education efforts is logical, but was not sufficient to affect preventive health behavior in this study.