Complexity of online gender confirmation resources surpass patient literacy

ABSTRACT

Background: Increasing transgender health care coverage has resulted in easier access to gender confirmation surgery. Patients considering surgery consistently access medical information online to improve knowledge regarding surgical options, complications, recovery, and life after transitioning. As a result, national health institutes recommend that patient educational materials be written at a sixth-grade–reading level. The purpose of this study is to assess the complexity of online gender confirmation surgery information.

Methods: An Internet search was performed using the key phrase “transgender surgery”. Health care and non–health care websites were evaluated for pertinent articles regarding gender confirmation surgery. Readability analyses were conducted using Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Gunning Fog Index, Coleman-Liau Index, Simple Measure of Gobbledygook Index, and Automated Readability Index. A two-tailed z test was used to compare means; significance was set at p ≤ 0.05.

Results: A total of 108 articles from 87 websites were analyzed. The average readability for all online gender confirmation-surgery information was at an 11th-grade reading level. Materials written by health care entities were written at a 12th-grade–reading level compared to non–health care articles, which were written at a 10th-grade level (p < 0.001). Male-to-female surgery materials were written at a 12th-grade level, significantly higher than the 11th-grade reading level of female-to-male surgery materials (p = 0.04).

Conclusion: Online information regarding gender confirmation surgery is written at a level that is too complex for patients to understand. Informational materials should be written at lower grade levels to improve patient education, informed consent, and outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender affirmation
• health education
• health literacy
• readability
• surgery
• transgender