"The language of medicine is ill and in need of care" : A word comprehension study of Sörmland County Council website terms

• Main Authors: Jidemyr, Elin, Nurmela, Taru
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Mälardalens högskola, Akademin för utbildning, kultur och kommunikation 2011
• Subjects: communication; information; word comprehension; language of medicine; County Council; target group adaptation; specialist terminology; Specific Languages; Studier av enskilda språk
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-12922

This study was performed in Eskilstuna, Sweden in the spring of 2011. The Sörmland CountyCouncil (SCC) initiated the study to improve the communication with the public by adjustingthe language on its website. The website is an important communicative tool since manypeople search for health care information online. Thirty-six terms on the website of the SCCwere the objects of study, a majority of them being names of the departments atMälarsjukhuset Hospital. The departments are presented as a list of links on the website. Fouradditional medical terms were included. The comprehension of the 36 terms was investigatedamong 210 health care centre visitors in Eskilstuna. A questionnaire was used where theinformants were asked to shortly explain what health care issues are dealt with in the differentdepartments. The understanding varied greatly among the terms, from Klinisk fysiologi ochnukleärmedicin (clinical physiology and nuclear medicine/Clinical physics and nuclearmedicine) which only 14.6% of the informants understood to Ögon (eyes/Ophthalmology)which was understood by 92.98%. Seven of the terms were understood by less than 50% ofthe informants. The recommendation of the study to the SCC was to replace terms that werehard to understand to direct the website visitors to the information they are looking for andalso to review the language in all written communication with this study in mind.