JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Plain language summaries (PLS) are intended to provide readers with a clear, non-technical, and easily understandable overview of medical and scientific literature; however, audience preferences for specific PLS format have yet to be fully explored.

Objective:

To evaluate the preferred readability level and format for PLS of medical journal articles across different disease states, with online audiences from various age groups.

Methods:

Articles describing phase III clinical trials from top-level, peer-reviewed journals published between May 2016–May 2018 were identified for three disease states representing a range of patient age groups (psoriasis, a skin disease [younger patients]; multiple sclerosis [MS], a nerve-based disease [middle-aged patients]; and rheumatoid arthritis [RA], a painful joint disease [older patients]). Four PLS were developed for each article: three as text only (written with high-, medium-, and low-complexity) and one as an infographic. To evaluate each of the four PLS formats, a 20-question survey (specific to one of the three diseases) was sent to a representative sample, via UK-based patient association websites, Twitter, and Facebook patient groups. A weighted-average calculation was applied to responders’ ranked preferences for each PLS format.

Results:

Across all three diseases, the weighted-average preference scores showed that infographics (psoriasis=2.91; MS=2.71; RA=2.78) and medium-complexity text PLS (reading age: 14–17 years, US Grade 9–11; psoriasis=2.90; MS=2.47; RA=2.77) were the two most-preferred PLS formats in each case.

Conclusions:

Audience preferences should be accounted for when preparing PLS to accompany original peer-reviewed research articles. Oversimplified text can be viewed negatively, and infographic versions or medium-complexity text appear to be the most popular.