This doctoral capstone experience aimed to explore the readability of early intervention therapist notes to improve health literacy in a pediatric therapy clinic. As defined by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) health literacy is the ability of individuals to gather, interpret, and use information to make suitable health-related decisions (AOTA, 2011). Documentation was evaluated from each of the four disciplines represented at this clinic including occupational, physical, speech, and developmental therapies. Therapy notes from each child were evaluated over a three-month period. This information was then entered into an online software that generates a readability score based on the grade level of the writing. Documentation should aim to be written at a 6th-8th grade level (Smith & Gutman, 2011). Averages over all four disciplines ranged from a grade level of 5.6-15. These outcomes emphasize the importance of health literacy specifically for this setting. Overall, this doctoral capstone experience looked to establish a way in which to improve health literacy for the clinic to ensure quality services are being provided to the pediatric client and their family. This paper further examines the implications of health literacy on early intervention therapists and families.

Creator

• Creighton, Paige

Contributors

• McGann, Taylor

Publisher

• University of Indianapolis

Language

• en

Identifier

• Creighton. Paige.pdf

Keyword

• Occupational Therapy

• Health Sciences

Date created

• 2018-05

Rights statement

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/