Improving Health Literacy Responsiveness: A Randomized Study on the Uptake of Brochures on Doctor-Patient Communication in Primary Health Care Waiting Rooms

Jansen, Carel J. M.; Koops van ’t Jagt, Ruth; Reijneveld, Sijmen A.; van Leeuwen, Ellen; de Winter, Andrea F.; Hoeks, John C. J.

doi:10.3390/ijerph18095025

Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Edit a Special Issue

Article Menu

...

Open AccessArticle

Improving Health Literacy Responsiveness: A Randomized Study on the Uptake of Brochures on Doctor-Patient Communication in Primary Health Care Waiting Rooms

Carel J. M. Jansen

^1,2,*

Ruth Koops van ’t Jagt

^1,3,

⁴

¹,

⁴ and

Department of Communication and Information Sciences, Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 7600, 9700 AS Groningen, The Netherlands

Language Centre, Stellenbosch University, 44 Banghoek Rd, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa

Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health, P.O. Box 7600, 9700 AS Groningen, The Netherlands

⁴

Department of Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 30.001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(9), 5025; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18095025

Received: 10 March 2021 / Revised: 30 April 2021 / Accepted: 30 April 2021 / Published: 10 May 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Communication Interventions and Health Literacy in the 21st Century)

View Full-Text Download PDF

Browse Figures

Citation Export

Abstract

Presenting attractive and useful health education materials in waiting rooms can help improve an organization’s health literacy responsiveness. However, it is unclear to what extent patients may be interested in health education materials, such as brochures. We conducted a three-week field study in waiting rooms of three primary care centers in Groningen. Three versions of a brochure on doctor-patient communication were randomly distributed, 2250 in total. One version contained six short photo stories, another version was non-narrative but contained comparable photos, and the third version was a traditional brochure. Each day we counted how many brochures were taken. We also asked patients (N = 471) to participate in a brief interview. Patients who consented (N = 390) were asked if they had noticed the brochure. If yes (N = 135), they were asked why they had or had not browsed the brochure, and why they had or had not taken it. Interview responses were categorized by two authors. Only 2.9% of the brochures were taken; no significant association with brochure version was found. Analysis of the interview data showed that the version with the photo narrative was noticed significantly more often than the non-narrative version or the traditional version. These results suggest that designing attractive and comprehensible health materials is not enough. Healthcare organizations should also create effective strategies to reach their target population. View Full-Text

Keywords: health literacy responsiveness; organizational health literacy; health literacy; health information; health communication; waiting room; doctor-patient communication; photo story; fotonovela; narrative health communication

▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Jansen, C.J.M.; Koops van ’t Jagt, R.; Reijneveld, S.A.; van Leeuwen, E.; de Winter, A.F.; Hoeks, J.C.J. Improving Health Literacy Responsiveness: A Randomized Study on the Uptake of Brochures on Doctor-Patient Communication in Primary Health Care Waiting Rooms. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 5025. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18095025

AMA Style

Jansen CJM, Koops van ’t Jagt R, Reijneveld SA, van Leeuwen E, de Winter AF, Hoeks JCJ. Improving Health Literacy Responsiveness: A Randomized Study on the Uptake of Brochures on Doctor-Patient Communication in Primary Health Care Waiting Rooms. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(9):5025. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18095025

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jansen, Carel J.M., Ruth Koops van ’t Jagt, Sijmen A. Reijneveld, Ellen van Leeuwen, Andrea F. de Winter, and John C.J. Hoeks. 2021. "Improving Health Literacy Responsiveness: A Randomized Study on the Uptake of Brochures on Doctor-Patient Communication in Primary Health Care Waiting Rooms" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 9: 5025. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18095025

Find Other Styles

Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Abstract views Pdf views Html views

Article Menu

Improving Health Literacy Responsiveness: A Randomized Study on the Uptake of Brochures on Doctor-Patient Communication in Primary Health Care Waiting Rooms

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Article Access Map by Country/Region

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI