Development of Visual Stories Infographics on Dietary and Physical Activity Management for Hypertension

Abstract

Background: Hypertension is a non-communicable disease that requires lifestyle intervention. Patients need to be educated on dietary and physical activity management for hypertension. Visual stories and infographics are one of the educational tools that can be effective for this purpose. Objective: This study aimed to develop and evaluate visual story infographics based on their level of understandability, actionability, and suitability. Methods: This study employed a cross-sectional study design that came in three phases: (I) content analysis, (II) design and development, and (III) evaluation. Ten healthcare professionals in the fields of medicine and dietetics evaluated the visual story infographics on their understandability, actionability, and suitability using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for printable material (PEMAT-P) and Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM). Results: The visual story infographics consisted of 25 pages covering dietary and physical activity management to control hypertension. Clinical guidelines for hypertension were used to develop the content of the infographics. The infographics were designed and developed using the Canva application. Bahasa Malaysia was used for the infographics as it is the national language. The infographics received a 98.8% understandability score and a 100% actionability score. Meanwhile, the overall score for the suitability rating was 86.6%. Conclusion: Overall, the newly developed infographic material ranked highly for understandability, actionability, and suitability. This finding indicated that the visual stories and infographics were well received by the healthcare professionals who were responsible for the management of patients with hypertension.