Readability and its application to poison prevention.

Abstract

To improve communication with the general public, poison prevention materials must be written in a language suited to the population to be reached. The information should be nontechnical, concise and easily understood. Sentence length of written material should be short and the vocabulary kept simple. Recall can be significantly improved by organizing statements and labeling categories (12). The readability level must be kept low enough for the general public to read, comprehend and remember the material. This generally means writing no higher than the seventh or eighth-grade level. By using readability formulas to evaluate written poison prevention educational materials and simplifying the reading level, writers can improve comprehension of the information.