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 educat ional brochures matches the reading ability (measured by educational a ttainment) of women attending public family planning clinics in Virgin ia shows that the mean reading level of the brochures sampled is grade 9.9. The educational attainment of 18% of Virginia family planning cl ients falls below this level. The mean reading level of brochures targ eted to adolescents (grade 8.3) and the mean reading level of those ta rgeted to minority women (grade 9.1) are significantly lower than the mean for all sampled brochures. Use of the targeted brochures would im prove access to information on HIV prevention for 16% of adolescents a nd 6% of minority women who attend family planning clinics in Virginia .