Effectiveness of Printed Educational Material in Nursing Education

 Effectiveness Guideline for Printed Educational Material in Nursing Education

Effectiveness of Printed Educational Material,Effective Reasoning and Linking ,Avoid Rare Vocabulary Words,Avoid Use of Abbreviations,Easy Formulation of Sentence,Avoid Use of Unfamiliar or Technical Words,Avoid Multiple Vocabulary of Synonyms,Avoid to Be Judgmental ,Prioritizing and Making  Hierarchy ,Presentation of Written Materials,Avoid Use of Conjunctions,Title and Topic Presentation.

Effectiveness of Printed Educational Material

Effective Reasoning and Linking 

If you sunburn easily and have fair skin with red or blonde hair, you are more likely to get skin cancer. How much time you spend in the sun affects your risk of skin cancer.

Avoid Rare Vocabulary Words

    Use short words and common vocabulary words with only one or two syllables as much as possible. Rely on sight words, known as high-frequency words, which are recognized by almost everyone. The key is to choose words that sound familiar and natural and are easy to read and understand, such as shot rather than injection, doctor rather than physician, and use instead of utilize. 

    Avoid compound words, such as lifesaver, and words with prefixes or suffixes, such as reoccur or emptying, that create multisyllable words.Also, try to avoid technical words and medical terms (medicalese), and substitute common, nontechnical, lay terms such as stroke instead of cardiovascular accident. 

    Be sure to select substitutions carefully because they may have a different meaning for some people than for others or in one context versus another. For example, if the word medicine is replaced with the word drug, the latter may be interpreted as the illegal variety. Using modest words is not considered talking down to readers; it is considered talking to them at a more comfortable level.

Avoid Use of Abbreviations

    Spell out words rather than using abbreviations or acronyms. That is should be used instead of ie, and for example instead of eg Abbreviations for the months of the year (such as Sept.) or the days of the week (such as Wed.) are a real problem for clients with limited vocabulary. Also do not use acronyms, such as CVA or NPO, unless these medical abbreviations are clearly defined beforehand in the text. Organize information into chunks, which improves recall. 

    Also, use numbers sparingly and only when absolutely necessary. Statistics are usually meaningless and are another source of confusion for the low literate reader. Limit the number of items in any list to no more than seven. People have a difficult time remembering more than seven consecutive items (Baddeley, 1994).

Easy Formulation of Sentence

    Keep sentences short, preferably not longer than 20 words and fewer if possible, because they are easier to read and understand for clients with short-term memories or who struggle decoding words of a sentence. Avoid subordinate (or dependent) clauses that make the reading more difficult. The use of commas, colons, or dashes results in long, complex sentences that turn off the reader. Titles also should be short and convey the purpose and meaning of the material that follows.

Avoid Use of Unfamiliar or Technical Words

    Clearly define any technical or unfamiliar words by using parentheses that include simple terms after difficult words-for example, “bacteria (germ).” A glossary that provides definitions of each difficult term is a helpful tool, but it is highly recommended to spell out terms phonetically immediately following the unfamiliar word within the text--for example, “Alzheimer's (pronounced Alt hi-merz).” 

    If a new technical vocabulary word (diabetes) or a new health concept (glycemic control) is introduced, it should be used and repeated frequently (Brega et al., 2015). Standal's (1981) method suggests identifying words whose meanings should be taught to the reader prior to introducing the intersectional material to increase reader comprehension and to avoid having to make major revisions to a printed piece.

Avoid Multiple Vocabulary of Synonyms 

    Use words consistently throughout the text and avoid interchanging words. For example, if discussing diet, continue to use the word diet rather than substituting other terms for it, such as meal plan, menu, food schedule, and dietary prescription, which merely confuse readers and can lead to misunderstanding of instruction.

Avoid to Be Judgmental 

    Avoid value judgment words with many interpretations, such as excessive, regularly, and frequently. How much pain or bleeding is excessive? How often is regularly or frequently? Use exact terms to describe what you mean by using, for example, a scale of 1-5 or explaining frequency in terms of minutes, hours, or days. Instead of saying, “drink milk frequently,” you should be more specific by stating, “drink three full glasses of milk every day.”

Prioritizing and Making  Hierarchy 

  Put the most important information first by prioritizing the need to know. Place essential messages upfront and get rid of extraneous details.

Presentation of Written Materials

    Use advance organizers (topic headings or headers) and subheadings. They clue in the reader to what is going to be presented and help focus the reader's attention on the message.

Avoid Use of Conjunctions 

    Limit the use of connectives such as however, consequently, even though, and in spite of that longer sentences and make them more complex. Also, avoid and if it connects two different ideas; instead, break the ideas into two sentences.

Title and Topic Presentation

    Make the first sentence of a paragraph the topic sentence, and, if possible, make the first word the topic of the sentence. See a less effective example from an American Cancer Society (1985) pamphlet, followed by more effective examples.