Developing Design Guidelines for a Visual Vocabulary of Electronic Medical Information to Improve Health Literacy

Abstract

Poor health literacy, or the ability to interpret and make judgments about one's health, affects the effectiveness of healthcare services and people's quality of life. We explored design principles on how to design visually salient, legible and interpretable medical graphics to promote comprehension and recall of electronic medical diagnostic information, an essential component of personal health records, for populations with limited health literacy. We first conducted a two-stage investigation to confirm that people can comprehend pictorial representations of medical conditions and treatments and improve their health literacy. We then designed a set of medical diagnostics graphics, based on the principles of information design derived from a large set of information graphics in various domains. Evaluated in a lab study, our medical diagnostic graphics were found to be capable of improving people's perceived comprehension and recall, and were considered easy to understand and very useful for individuals with limited health literacy.