Do you understand what is on the Blog?

Can people with multiple sclerosis actually understand what they read in the Internet age? Moccia M, Carotenuto A, Massarelli M, Lanzillo R, Brescia Morra V. J Clin Neurosci. 2015. pii: S0967-5868(15)00514-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jocn.2015.10.003. [Epub ahead of print]

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) frequently report difficulties in finding personally relevant information on the Internet. With this in mind, the Google top-ten patient-oriented results were analysed for their overall level of readability. The most commonly visited websites required an average grade level of 11.74±1.54, and an average number of years of formal education of 12.78±1.82, to be easily understood. The average Flesch Reading Ease readability index is 45.26±7.35, a difficult-to-read score. The high educational level required to easily understand most websites worsens health inequalities, not allowing a full participation in health information and decision making.

This says that you can’t read most MS websites because they are too difficult. I guess that includes us because you often comment that there is stuff flying over your head. Sorry, we try but if we had a staff of people who translated them after we had written them, then they may be more accessible. Easy way to may the posts easier to read is to read more. There are many gold nuggets on the blog.

Where were we i've paid google to to get us noticed...I'm joking but the search was multiple sclerosis and not multiple sclerosis research otherwise they would have found us.

However, it is quite funny that a paper taking about readability is almost unreadable. 


I have been around for a while and I have no clue what a grade level is. Is this an American grade level?

Quick look on Wiki and that says grade 12 = Twelfth grade, Senior year, or Grade 12 are the North American names for the final year of secondary school. In most countries students then graduate at age 17 or 18. So that's a Senior

When do you go to school? I think I was 5 so that makes you need to be 18 years old to understand, but Sweden I think start later so 19 and as for a Flesch Reading Index I have no clue either.
 

Apparently 45 is difficult and set at University level Pro high school level. MS Society in UK was nearly 50.

So do we fail....can do better?

If so in what way



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