Assessment of Online Resources for Returning to School During and After Treatment of Childhood Cancer

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate current online parent education resources for children returning to school after a cancer diagnosis. Methods: Online search was conducted using 3 search engines and terms recommended by affected families. Sites were evaluated by 3 reviewers for understandability and actionability (scored 0-100%) using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT). Readability was assessed using Flesch-Kincaid (grade K-12) and content comprehensiveness by a clinical expert review for 5 late effect domains (scored 0-100%). Results: A total of 56 unique online resources were evaluated. Mean understandability and actionability scores were 54% (range 17-83) and 36% (range 0-83) respectively. The mean Flesch-Kincaid grade level was 10th grade (mode 12th). Comprehensiveness of domain coverage was 34% (mode 20%). Conclusion: Some high quality materials for this topic are available, but generally low scores on the PEMAT scales and high reading level estimates on Flesch-Kincaid indicate parents may have difficulty understanding and using the information. The low scores for comprehensiveness of information indicate parents will likely need to access multiple sources for complete information. Practice Implications: A table provides the names, website (URL), and scoring for the 24 top-rated sites and can be used to make recommendations to parents with improved confidence in quality.