Reading Level of Overeaters Anonymous Primary Educational Material

Educational materials are often a key component of recovery in a mutual-help group. However, in order to be helpful to a maximum number of members, these materials must be presented at a reading level that is comprehensible. Two measures of readability, The Flesch Reading Ease score and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade-Level score were applied to 20 random paragraphs chosen from The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous. Results indicate that the average paragraph is written just below the tenth grade level and close to an optimum level of reading ease. However, due to variability, almost half (45%) of the paragraphs fell in the category of Difficult Reading Ease and half were found to be at a tenth grade reading level or beyond. In order to maximize the utility of this educational text, it is recommended that future editions take into consideration principles of readability.