Page 33 - FINAL COMPENDIUM 2020-2021 27.2.2022

UNDERSTANDABILITY, ACTIONABILITY AND READABILITY OF PRINTABLE ORAL HEALTH
EDUCATION MATERIALS PRODUCED BY THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH MALAYSIA
NMRR-19-1194-47333

Wong ST, Norkhafizah S, Arifin WN

Introduction: The Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) has produced various types of
printable oral health education (OHE) materials. Objectives: This study assessed
understandability, actionability and readability of printable OHE materials produced by
the MOH. Materials and methods: A total of 26 printable OHE materials of different types
were assessed. The Bahasa Malaysia version Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool
for Printable Materials, PEMAT-P(M) and Khadijah Rohani’s Readability Formula were
used to assess understandability, actionability and readability respectively. Of 26
materials, only 10 were evaluated for readability because the formula is applicable only
for materials with over 300 words. Results: Readability of the OHE materials ranged from
Primary 5 to Form 2 education level. All 26 materials achieved high understandability and
actionability rating. Understandability score of the materials ranged from 73.3% to
100.0% with a mean score of 91.9% (SD 7.06%), and the actionability score ranged from
80.0% to 100.0% with a mean score of 93.6% (SD 9.05%). However, some materials were
rated poorly in several understandability and actionability items. Low rating in
understandability items were due to absence of clear purpose (2 materials), medical
terms definition (2 materials), summary (19 materials), and visual aids captions (7
materials). Additionally, some materials used jargon (2 materials) and have tables with
incomplete or unclear headings (4 materials). Low rating in actionability items were due
to poorly explained charts, graphs, tables or diagrams (3 materials), lack of visual aids that
make the instructions easier to act on (2 materials), and not addressing users directly
when describing action (4 materials). Conclusion: Overall, the MOH OHE materials were
understandable, actionable and readable for Malaysian population with primary
education level and above. Nevertheless, few shortcomings for improvements were
noted.

Keywords: Health education, Patient education, Oral health, Readability, Malaysia.

st
Oral presentation at the 1 Joint Specialist Conference on 9-11 March 2018 at Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur

Dr Wong Siong Ting* Dr Wan Nor Arifin
Oya Road Dental Clinic Unit of Biostatistics and Research Methodology
Sibu School of Medical Sciences
Sarawak Universiti Sains Malaysia

AP Dr Norkhafizah Saddki
School of Dental Sciences
Universiti Sains Malaysia

*Postgraduate student from the Ministry of Health Malaysia

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