Use of health promotion manga to encourage physical activity and healthy eating in Japanese patients with metabolic syndrome: a case study

A disease-targeted picture book for children with Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis: A quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND

Children with Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis are frequently burdened with psychological problems besides disease treatment and adherence. Currently, there is a shortage of appropriate and effective educational materials to facilitate physical and psychological recovery.

OBJECTIVES

To examine a picture book for the effectiveness of disease-related knowledge, coping strategies, resilience, quality of life and depressive symptoms in children with Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis in China.

DESIGN

A quasi-experimental design with repeated measures was adopted. The control group received standard care. The intervention group received the standard care plus a free picture book. This disease-specific picture book narrated the story of two rabbits diagnosed with Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis who underwent a series of examinations, faced difficulties taking medication, and eventually recovered.

PARTICIPANTS

The study recruited 60 children diagnosed with Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis.

MEASUREMENTS

Disease-related knowledge, resilience, coping strategies, depression and paediatric quality of life were measured at baseline, the third day, the first month and the third month after recruitment. The acceptability of the picture book was evaluated at the last data-collection point.

RESULTS

The data showed that children in the intervention group demonstrated higher levels of knowledge (p < 0.001), less usage of emotional coping strategies (p = 0.003), reduced depressive symptoms (p = 0.003), improved psychological resilience (p < 0.001), and better quality of life (p < 0.046) than those in the control group in the third month. Most children (83.3%) in the intervention group were satisfied with the picture book.

CONCLUSIONS

The targeted picture book is an effective educational tool for improving clinical outcomes and was highly accepted by children.

The YGetIt? Program: A Mobile Application, PEEP, and Digital Comic Intervention to Improve HIV Care Outcomes for Young Adults

INTRODUCTION

In New York State (NYS), young adults account for the largest number of new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections and struggle to seek and remain in HIV care. Digital interventions and access to peer support have demonstrated positive influences on the HIV care continuum and health outcomes. The New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH) developed YGetIt? (YGI) that combines a mobile application, GET!, peer navigation (PEEPs), and a compelling digital comic series, "Tested," to facilitate the timely entry of young people into HIV care, to prevent vulnerable youth from dropping out of care, and to achieve sustained viral load suppression among those in care. This article describes the development and early implementation of the YGI digital intervention. Intervention design. GET! provided a high level of confidentiality and security, ease of access, and Wi-Fi accessibility. YGI enrolled 113 HIV-positive participants from a clinical setting who were individually randomized at a 1:1 ratio to receive access to GET! plus PEEPs (n = 53) or the app alone (n = 60).

LESSONS LEARNED

For recruitment, staff and organization buy-in was essential to the success of the intervention, and building relationships was critical. GET! development was an iterative process. Peer Engagement Educator Professionals (PEEPs) who were tech savvy, representative of the priority population, and had shared life experience with participants were most impactful. Interest in apps declines over time and participants in the APP alone arm were less engaged.

CONCLUSION

GET! is a communication and engagement tool that supports HIV care and may serve as a model for like digital interventions.

[Representation of the oral sphere in medical comics, the child's perception]

Medical comics are a suitable educational tool for paediatric populations. The emotions conveyed by the characters should not evoke negative feelings, which could then be associated with care or caregivers. The eyes and mouth are the first areas of the face to be analysed. One study attempted to assess the ability of children to perceive the emotions of one of the protagonists through the representation of their mouth.

The Increase of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Husbands toward the Prenatal Care of their Wives Using the Illustrations Having the Local Cultural Nuance

BACKGROUND: The role of husbands in maternal health during pregnancy is crucial and is related to the high maternal mortality rate in Indonesia. In spite of that, the effort to involve husbands in the maternal health program is still low. AIM: This paper aims to explain the results of the effort to produce learning assisting tools in a form of an illustration having local cultural nuance that can be used to do intervention of health education to increase the participation of husbands in maternal health. METHODS: The research was conducted in Silaen Village, Silaen District in Toba Regency, North Sumatera Province. To make the teaching materials, interviews and focus group discussions were conducted for the village community figures, the village midwives, the pregnant women, and their husbands. After illustrations were made, the trial was conducted to 10 pairs of husbands and pregnant wives. RESULTS: The illustrations made accommodating the role of husbands in maternal health can increase the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of husbands, including the KAP of their wives. The biggest increase happening in the attitude component (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The educational method using an illustration adopting local culture is important to become one of the education teaching alternatives in the effort to improve husband’s KAP.

Intervention Effects in Using an Application Compared with a Module with Pictures on Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of the Pregnant Women in North Sumatra, Indonesia

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy period is a crucial period for the maternal and infant health. Unfortunately, there are still many pregnant women having low knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP). Meanwhile, the advanced technology and the occurrence of pandemic should have created change toward the method to provide education. AIM: This research aims to compare the KAP of the pregnant women provided by an application with those provided with a module with pictures. METHODS: This research was conducted in Deli Serdang Regency, North Sumatera Province. There were two groups of pregnant women, each of which consists of 32 people chosen from the pregnant women registered in two Public Health Centers. One group used the application and the other used the module with pictures. After 3 months, the KAP of those two groups was measured in accordance with the content of the module. RESULTS: Those two groups had the profile of the same age and education, but their occupation was different, where the application users were mostly housewives, while the most of the module users were self-employed. The pregnant women using the application had a higher KAP than the pregnant women using the module with pictures. CONCLUSION: The use of the application and the module with pictures is an important alternative to increase the KAP of the pregnant women.

Emotional experiences of reading health educational manga encouraging behavioral changes: a non-randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE

Educational health manga are used to promote health behavior change. This study thus seeks to achieve the following objectives: identify the emotional experience of reading educational health manga, understand the effects of facilitating the psychological mediators of behavior change through emotional experiences, and compare the effectiveness of educational health manga with conventional materials.

DESIGN

A non-randomized controlled trial with six conditions was conducted. Target behaviors were physical activity and healthy diet. Individuals aged 20-69 years (n = 1,680) were assigned three manga intervention conditions and three control conditions (visual image-based, narrative text, and general text material).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Participants were asked about their emotional experience while reading either intervention material or control material and its perceived positive influence on enhancing psychological mediators.

RESULTS

Four factors relevant to emotional experiences were identified: risk perception, familiarity, satisfaction, and realism. Emotional experience strongly predicted the psychological mediators of behavior change. Analysis of differences among the six conditions revealed that exposure to educational health manga led to greater satisfaction and increased knowledge. Participants assigned manga conditions experienced superior emotional experiences and outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Those assigned manga conditions experienced superior emotional experiences and outcomes. The efficacy of educational health manga in encouraging psychological mediators of change was confirmed.Trial registration: UMIN Japan identifier: UMIN000034369.