Papers from PLAIN International 2017

PLAIN International Conference

Day 2 Key notes included a presentation from the newly created German Easy to Read Concept. "Leichte Sprache". They have published a large text on 'how to write in German Easy to Read'.

A few papers discussed working with people with lower literacy skills.

Belgium - Van Der Waarde - Plain Language in health: Can understandable information improve the use of medicines by patients? This was developed from the graphic designer perspective, with lots of insights into how to get images to work for the content.

Germany - Weigard/Zschorlicj - Head lice: Nothing to be ashamed of. Evidence based health information for hard to reach target groups. Important message: websites do not work for this target group!!!

Ireland -  Lane/Droog - Men's Cancer Prevention and Health Literacy. Discussed how information needs to be presented differently for men - use of easy to read language; humour, positive messages and infographics. Interestingly they have their images on the Right side of pages. Love to chat more....

Australia - Basterfield – Workshop – Improve Communication- Improve Customer Relationships. For those that came a great discussion on how the strategies for interactive communication  are as relevant and as important as our written messages. Working with participants who have English as a 2^nd. 3^rd or 4^th language was great fun, as we tried to identify simple everyday words for complex ones!.  

Australia – Basterfield – Who is my Customer. A thought provoking paper, which people afterwards commented they had no idea or hadn’t realised the vulnerable people I write Easy English for, is (i) out there and (ii) as prevalent as it is.

A couple of papers I missed , but want to catch up with...

Sweden - Jaensson Introducing a new grant to new target groups. Unfortunately I didn’t get to this paper as I was chairing another session. Looking forward to the PPT and a follow up with Annasara;

Germany – Frohlich – Capito – Easy to read . Practical experiences.

Based on digital experiences. Development of the ‘çapito’ method and quality standards.

Cathy Basterfield

Access Easy English

www.accesseasyenglish.com.au

cathy@accesseasyenglish.com.au

0466 579 855 

Facebook:    /accesseasyenglish

Twitter: @accesseasyengl@accessseasyengli

"Thank you for making this information harder to read" From PLAIN International 2017

PLAIN International 2017. 

Held in Graz, Austria at the largest university in their city.

Lots of people from many different countries attended. There a few more papers and discussion about meeting the needs of people who do have more limited literacy, which was great to see. PPT's from the conference will be available soon. I will put the link here when they are available.

Highlights -  there were many.

In the Opening Address Neil James, the outgoing President welcomed everyone with the 4 'S' of Plain Language.

- Service

- Satisfaction

- Safety

- Savings.

Service

covered things such as

 - information from a company is easier to understand;

- it takes less time to write and act on the information;

- saves money;

- better relationships with customers.

Satisfaction

- A great slide with comments about "when was the last time a customer said......."

       'thank you for making this information more complicated than  it needed to be';

       'but this was too easy to understand';

       'I feel smarter when you make it harder to read';

       I would like to spend more time doing this (read document)!'

Safety

Complex information is not clear. It is more open to misinterpretation. Think about an insurance statement....

Savings

More recent data has shown when using Plain Language:-

25%-40% reduction in a documents length;

50% reduction in writing time

40%-60% reduction in reviewing time;

50% reduction in number of drafts;

50% increase in reader satisfaction.

Now put these in the context of Easy English..... 

Cathy Basterfield

Access Easy English

www.accesseasyenglish.com.au

cathy@accesseasyenglish.com.au

0466 579 855 

Facebook:    /accesseasyenglish

Twitter: @accesseasyengl@accessseasyengli

Writing for your audience

Yesterdays Age (Melbourne) has an article by the Health Editor, Julia Medew on how Dr Sonia Fullerton has changed the way she writes information for her patients.

Dr Fullerton has begun to write her Health Letter to the patient, and "CC' to the other members of the Health team. The patient is the centre of the treatment, so the Health letter is written to him. The patient has an opportunity to have a greater understanding of the goals and direction for treatment.  The persons Health team will still understand the information.

In writing her Health letter in this way, Dr Fullerton acknowledges she was concerned how other members of the medical profession would respond to this means of communicating, i.e. in Plain Language (removing Health jargon, and talking directly to the patient, in a way the patient could understand).  

This concern is often raised by people when asked to consider or use Plain Language or Easy English. 

Why?

The purpose of any written communication should be so the intended audience has an understanding of the material. Those of us with good literacy, can feel we are not representing our profession or skills properly if we do not use jargon based, and complex language in our written communication.  We are all guilty of it. However, keeping in mind, the person at the centre of the communication is the consumer or patient, will provide for greater awareness for us all, when we write.

This is critical for all information, not just a Health letter or report.

Ask a patient what treatment they prefer. Giving them a brochure with complex data and Health information will not assist in their decision making.  Every person needs to be able to comprehend the information in a way that is meaningful for them.  Most people have not had years and years of training, and then years of experience of a particular medical condition. Therefore, all medical jargon and complex data needs to be removed. Using everyday language is critical. This is not denigrating the patient.  Think about the bonuses.

The patient has a better understanding of the

·         length or duration of treatment;

·         when to take self administered medication;

·         when appointments are;

·         potential side effects, and when to call you or alert you to changes;

·         potential outcomes, both positive and negative;

·         reduced stress as they are aware of all of the above.

It can be hard to reduce the complex web of information and knowledge you have, into useful consumer information. However the benefits, once you can do this, are amazing. 

Talk to Cathy about how to develop your current information into  manageable and understandable information for your audience.

Cathy

Cathy Basterfield

Speech Pathologist

Access Easy English

cathy@accesseasyenglish.com.au

0466 579 855 

www.accesseasyenglish.com.au