Despite the plethora of online health information, many low-literacy individuals are essentially unable to benefit from this immense resource. Many studies have documented the disparity between the advanced reading level of online health material and the nation's 8th to 9th grade average reading level. Taken together, however, these studies also suggest that many health topics have at least some online coverage that is presented at a level that would be accessible to many. These findings highlight the fact that the average Web user with low literacy skills is faced with the daunting task of locating health information that they can understand. Without improved search capabilities, much of the health information that is provided at appropriate reading levels will remain underutilized. The purpose of this grant is to explore a novel way to enhance search engine results for low-literacy individuals.
The aims of this project are: (1) Create a reading level evaluation engine to assist low-literacy individuals in identifying appropriately targeted health information. We will create software that will identify web content across a variety of health web site and combine this software with an existing search engine technology. In addition, we will create a directory of online health information that is particularly accessible for low-literacy individual. We will conduct focus group sessions with low-literacy individuals to develop realistic health search scenarios. These scenarios will then be used in usability studies examining the system's user interface. (2) Conduct a pilot study to compare how well low literacy individuals can find and understand online health information using the developed reading level evaluation engine versus the standard Google search engine. We hypothesize that low-literacy individuals using this reading level evaluation engine will have more success in locating understandable health information compared to individuals using the standard Google search engine. By building and pilot testing this application, we expect to begin bridging the gap between low-literacy individuals and online health information resources.
