Speaking as "a mass" --
Make it as simple as you can, and then revise to make it even plainer. That does not mean 'dumbing down' - check Zarcadoolas's book.

I don't care how high the literacy is, there is something about being told you have a condition or disease like diabetes that freezes the brain. I have a PhD and I write all the time, and I'm usually reasonably competent, but it took WEEKS for me to find anything comprehensible, simple and sensible about diabetes management after I was diagnosed with Type 2 last year. I finally found usable, readable, applicable information in a website for parents and children with Type 1. Forget "eighth grade": write for an intelligent 5th grader who would rather be doing almost anything else 

Boyd Davis

--- On Sat, 11/29/08, Ann Rathbun, Ph.D. <a.rathbun at morehead-st.edu> wrote:
From: Ann Rathbun, Ph.D. <a.rathbun at morehead-st.edu>
Subject: [HealthLiteracy 2520]  Writing for the masses
To: "The Health and Literacy Discussion List" <healthliteracy at nifl.gov>
Date: Saturday, November 29, 2008, 11:57 AM

Hi all,

I am writing to get some practical advice/opinion on the issue of  
writing for a wide audience.  I am currently assisting someone who is  
writing a manual for training community volunteers who will be helping  
with health promotion for those living with Diabetes. (Sort of like  
"promatores" or Community Health Workers).  Her target audience is  
those living in the Appalachian region of the U.S.  Both of us  
recognize that she may get volunteers who have high literacy skills.  
My concern is this: some of the synthetic estimates I have calculated  
show that literacy/health literacy rates in some parts of Appalachia  
are extraordinarily low (significantly lower than reported in the  
KY-SAAL for example).

My advice to the writer is to write at an 8th grade level and make it  
LOOK easy to read.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Ann


Ann Rathbun, Ph.D.
Department of HPES
200C Laughlin Health Bld.
Morehead State University
606-783-2464


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