Comprehension of Physical Activity Promotion Material: A Retrospective and Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Readability research suggests most physical activity promotion (PAP) materials in circulation are not ready for dissemination. However, these studies are largely based on indirect measures of end-user ability to understand material (i.e., reading grade level, RGL). We advanced knowledge in this area by replicating the cloze procedure study by Cardinal and Seidler (1995), which directly showed lay adults, with a wide range in educational attainment (i.e., ≥ high school diploma; N = 56), could only partially understand a PAP brochure marked for wide dissemination. Limitations of their study included not statistically comparing subgroup scores to interpretive cut-points and using nonrepresentative PAP test material (i.e., RGL equaled 18.52). Our retrospective and comparative analysis of their results (January-April 2023, N = 25) partially confirmed their findings, and we confirmed writing PAP material above the max-recommended RGL (i.e., 8th grade) would likely result in lay adults having inadequate comprehension of these materials.