JCPSLP Vol 22 No 2 2020

Table 1. Data extracted from included studies (continued)

Year

First author Country of origin

Design/ methods

Readers Reader characteristics

Writers (numbers where specified)

Document accessibility

2016 Brown

USA

Quantitative, questionnaire, readability (Flesch- Kinkaid), use of images, use of terminology

Nil

N/A

149 GCs

Average reading level = 10.93; readability increased where populations had higher education level; paediatric clinician letters had lower readability scores; clinicians who include 72% included images in letters; 20% included images of test results; 8% unable to use images due to electronic record limitations; 25% of genetics terms were explained in letters images had lower readability scores;

37 parents

Male = 5; female = 11; New Zealand European = 14; other descent = 2; high school = 12; undergraduate = 3; post- graduate = 1; mean age = 33.4; mean number of children = 1.63

Researchers Report models written to meet study aims (F-K formula, the

2016 Donald

New Zealand

Mixed methods, quasi- experimental study, readability measures (Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch- Kincaid, Simple Measure of Gobbledygook), semi-structured

RGL was 14.8, and using the SMOG, the RGL was 16. The FRE score was 35, suggesting a “difficult” reading level)

qualitative interviews

Unspecified educational psychologists

Documents not assessed

2018 Rahill

USA

Quantitative, questionnaire

22 parents, 68 teachers

62% had children who received special education services in the state of New Jersey; 14% were from Maryland; 9% were from New York. The remaining respondents had children who received services in Pennsylvania (5%), Alabama (5%), and Colorado (5%). 95%t classified their school district as suburban. 95% had children who currently receive special education services; 5% reported that their child received special education services in the past; attended a mean of 7.5 meetings related to eligibility or IEP development for their child; the mean number of psycho- educational reports that the parents reported reading about their child was 3.65 with a range from 1 to 20

2018 VandenBoom USA

Quantitative, questionnaire

Nil

N/A

233 GCs

Documents not assessed

* studies located through citation-searching or other search methods. ** report models are reports that have been created by researchers for the purposes of the study. GP = general practitioner, GC = genetic counsellor, OT = occupational therapist, SLP = speech-language pathologist

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JCPSLP Volume 22, Number 2 2020

Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology