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3 Tools To Assess Health Materials

You’ve developed health materials. How can you make sure these materials are easy to understand and use? One option is to use assessment tools.

What are 3 assessment tools?

Let’s look at three tools for assessing health materials:

• Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT)

• Clear Communication Index (Index)

• Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM)

How are these assessment tools the same?

The PEMAT, Index, and SAM have some things in common. All three tools:

• Measure how easy health materials are to understand and use.

• Have been tested for accuracy (validated).  

• Are widely accepted.

• Are available for free online. 

• Come with a user’s guide.

How is each assessment tool unique?

While the PEMAT, Index, and SAM have some things in common, each tool is also unique.

PEMAT

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) developed the PEMAT to assess patient education materials. You complete this tool online.

The PEMAT comes in two versions: 

• PEMAT-P for print materials

• PEMAT-AV for audiovisual (AV) materials
  
  

Index

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed the Index to assess materials for patients, as well as materials for health professionals. Besides checking how easy the materials are to understand and use, the Index measures how accurate they are.

You complete the Index online. You can take notes as you use it.

SAM

Cecelia and Leonard Doak developed the SAM to assess patient education materials. But people often use it to assess AV materials too. In addition to rating how easy the materials are to understand and use, the SAM measures how suitable they are for the intended audience.

You can find the SAM online. But you must print it out and complete it by hand.

What does each assessment tool measure?

When you use the tools, you rate the health materials in various areas. The tools then give you a score. The easier the materials are to understand and use, the higher their score will be. (Note: These tools don’t assess the reading level of the text.)

PEMAT

The PEMAT looks at seven areas:

1. Content

2. Word choice and style

3. Use of numbers 

4. Organization 

5. Layout and design

6. Use of visual aids

7. How easy the materials are to use}
   
   

Index

The Index focuses on seven areas:

1. Main message and call to action

2. Language

3. Information design

4. State of the science

5. Behavioral recommendations

6. Numbers

7. Risk
   
   

SAM

The SAM looks at six areas:

1. Content

2. Literacy demand 

3. Graphics

4. Layout and typography

5. Learning stimulation and motivation

6. Cultural appropriateness 
   
   
   

Think about using these tools

Consider using one or more of these assessment tools to make sure health materials are easy to understand and use.

We extend our sincere gratitude to Audrey Riffenburgh, for her invaluable peer review and expert feedback, which significantly contributed to the enhancement of this article.

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