Readability and Suitability of Spanish Language Hypertension and Diabetes Patient Education Materials.

Hispanics who speak Spanish are at risk for low health literacy. We evaluated Spanish language hypertension (HTN) and diabetes mellitus (DM) patient education materials from U.S. federal agency public sector sources using the Suitability of Assessment (SAM) instrument. Mean readability for HTN materials was grade 7.9 and for DM materials was grade 6.6. Mean SAM score for HTN materials was 43.9 and for DM materials was 63.2. SAM scores were significantly better for DM than for HTN materials in overall score, content, graphics, layout, stimulation/motivation, and cultural appropriateness (p < .05). Clinicians should evaluate suitability of Spanish language HTN and DM materials that they use in patient teaching.

Individual telephone support for family caregivers of seriously ill cancer patients.

Medical-surgical nurses are an important source of information and guidance for family caregivers during health care crises. The concerns expressed by family caregivers to nurse interventionists during a supportive and informational telephone intervention are described in this study. An analysis of telephone call content using constant comparison methods identified major stressors of the family caregiver during the illness trajectory.