Visual Design in Healthcare for Low-Literate Users – A Case Study of Healthcare Leaflets for New Immigrants in Taiwan

Abstract

AbstractHealthcare material is an effective communication platform to offer an innovative professional care system which provides a more accurate, accessible and applicable educational platform for patients in a diversified society. However, immigrant populations are vulnerable to serious health disparities, and language barriers may further exacerbate their limited health literacy in accessing health information. Recent studies indicate that visual design might service as a powerful mean for the delivery of health information because vivid information combined with visual elements seems to affect both affective and cognitive processes to maximize comprehension. Yet, ways to identify the visual factors of healthcare material that best affect low-literate users to learn is a question that remains unanswered. The purpose of this study is to identify the visual factors of healthcare leaflet that affect low-literate users’ satisfaction, thus establishing guidelines for designing visual healthcare materials for low-literate users. The study was implemented in three stages, the first of which reviewed existing literature to survey current strategies to evaluate visual design in healthcare for low-literate users. Secondly, 36 appropriate leaflets from existing health educational materials in Taiwan were collected and analyzed. Thirdly, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 Vietnamese participants who were new immigrants with a low level of education in Taiwan. The results showed that the factors of healthcare material that affect low-literate users’ satisfaction range from creative ideas, design layout of cover, design layout of index, typeface design, color design, pictorial illustrations to realistic photos and cultural factors. A checking list for designing visual healthcare materials for low-literate users was also listed. Successful health communication depends on the health information properly coded by the providers and correctly decoded by the consumers. The findings of this study are expected to be valuable, not only for the providers and consumers of health information, but also for the designers of healthcare material.KeywordsVisual DesignHealth literacyHealthcare Material