LITERACY OF WOMEN ATTENDING FAMILY-PLANNING CLINICS IN VIRGINIA AND READING LEVELS OF BROCHURES ON HIV PREVENTION

A study estimating the extent to which the reading level of HIV educational brochures matches the reading ability (measured by educational attainment) of women attending public family planning clinics in Virginia shows that the mean reading level of the brochures sampled is grade 9.9. The educational attainment of 18% of Virginia family planning clients falls below this level. The mean reading level of brochures targeted to adolescents (grade 8.3) and the mean reading level of those targeted to minority women (grade 9.1) are significantly lower than the mean for all sampled brochures. Use of the targeted brochures would improve access to information on HIV prevention for 16% of adolescents and 6% of minority women who attend family planning clinics in Virginia.