Written patient education materials are an important part of diabetes self-management education. This study aimed to examine the understandability and actionability of diabetes patient education materials in English and Simplified Chinese that have been jointly published by the Australian government and peak national diabetes organisations.

Methods

In a non-experimental study design, an assessment panel comprising health professionals and consumers rated materials using the validated Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT).

Results

Eight materials were identified from Diabetes Australia and the National Diabetes Services Scheme. All materials had a mean score of 70% or above for understandability and actionability in both English and Chinese, except the general information materials which scored 47% on the actionability domain. The use of visual aids, everyday language, active voice and minimal complex medical terms were identified to contribute to the acceptable PEMAT scores.

Conclusions

Overall, this study provides evidence that Australian national diabetes patient education materials largely adhere to recommendations for effective written communication.

Implications to Public Health

The national multilingual diabetes patient education materials are appropriate for use as a part of diabetes self-management education, including with people with varying levels of health literacy and non-English speaking migrants.