Table 1.

Health materials sampled

Health activitiesMaterial typeAre these materials representative of those in everyday use?How many patients would be exposed to this material?What is the potential impact of failure to understand this materialWeight (frequency of exposure x potential impact)
Text onlyText + numeracyTotalMean scoreaMean scorebMean scorecRange 0–9d
Health promotion013131.81.82.03.6
Protecting personal and public safety410142.01.92.64.9
Disease prevention210122.12.02.04.0
Managing illness312152.22.02.44.8
Systems navigation55102.12.12.24.6
Total145064

  • ↵a 0= not at all; 1 = slightly; 2 = moderately; 3 = highly.

  • ↵b 1= a few; 2 = many; 3 = most.

  • ↵c 1 = low; 2 = medium; 3 = high.