The use and improvement of written communication in mental health care and promotion

Abstract

This paper reviews research showing that written communication in health care is often not noticed, not legible, not read, not understood, not believed, and not remembered. Ways of remedying these defects are described. Despite its less than optimal format and content, written communication often leads to worthwhile gains in patient satisfaction and understanding, and sometimes to gains in compliance, and (possibly) outcome. It would be expected that improving written materials would lead to increases in: (a) the size; and (b) the frequency of such gains. There is some empirical support for these expectations. Most research into written communication has not been specifically concerned with mental health promotion. Nevertheless, the small amount of directly relevant evidence suggests that the conclusions summarized above apply equally to the mental health area.