Medical Terminology and Arabic Medical Discourse Complexity: Their Impact on Health Information Comprehension Among Palestinian Adults—A Questionnaire-Based Study with an Embedded Randomized Experiment

Description

Effective physician–patient communication is essential for accurate information exchange, patient understanding, and informed healthcare decisions. However, complex medical terminology, unfamiliar expressions, and linguistically demanding explanations may limit patients' comprehension of health-related information. This interdisciplinary research project aims to investigate medical terminology, linguistic complexity, and health information comprehension among Palestinian adults, integrating perspectives from medicine and Arabic linguistics. The study will employ an online questionnaire-based design incorporating an embedded randomized experiment. Participants will complete questions assessing their experiences with medical communication and their understanding of selected medical terms. They will then be randomly assigned to receive either technically worded or simplified Arabic medical information, followed by standardized comprehension questions. The primary objective is to evaluate whether simplifying Arabic medical language improves comprehension. Secondary objectives include identifying frequently misunderstood medical terms and exploring sociodemographic factors associated with health information comprehension. The findings are expected to provide locally relevant evidence to support clearer, more accessible Arabic medical communication and inform future patient-centered communication strategies in Palestine.