Impact of photonovel interventions among people with low levels of health literacy: A literature review

Abstract

There is a growing impetus across various disciplines to use photonovels to communicate information among people with low levels of health literacy. Photonovels present information in a form of an interesting story with photographs of real people. The purpose of this review is to describe the impac t of photonovel interventions among people with low levels of health literacy. Information professionals, researchers, and clinicians can use photonovels to communicate health related information. A literature review was conducted by searching records in two databases : Ovid Medline and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL). Using eligibility criteria, titles and abstracts of identified records were screened. Next, full-texts were reviewed and studies that met inclusion criteria were selected. Finally, a descriptive synthesis of the extracted data was performed. Of 103 records, only eight studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. All studies reported significant positive impact of photonovels on knowledge of participants. Two trials reported positive impact on self-efficacy, intent to seek treatment, stigma towards antidepressant medication and mental health care stigma of participants. Photonovel is an effective means to communicate health-related information to promote positive outcomes among people with low levels of health literacy.