Health education materials for Arab patients: content and design preferences.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the content and design preferences of printed health education leaflets among Arab patients.


METHODS
A survey questionnaire to 17 subjects (women: n = 8, men: n = 9; age range 17-70 years) and three focus-group discussions (total 16 participants) were used to assess preferences by showing samples of Arabic health education materials. The questionnaire was administered by interviewers. For the focus-group discussions, the sessions were conducted by a trained interviewer, audio recorded and analyzed thematically. The subjects' educational level was from no formal schooling to university level.


RESULTS
In survey component, all patients preferred photographs over clipart. Typeface ('font') preferences were for Simplified Arabic in 8 subjects (47%) and Mudir MT in 7 (41%); the 16-point font size was favored by 14 (82%) patients. In the three focus-group discussions, themes that participants expressed included use of standard Arabic with local dialects, short sentences, and culturally appropriate advice with practical and quantifiable examples.


CONCLUSIONS
The participants preferred health education materials to be color trifold brochures illustrated with pictures and not clipart and written in Arabic using the Simplified Arabic font in 16-point size.
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates. jhashim@uaeu.ac.ae
Muhammad Jawad
MJ
Hashim
Halla
H
Mustafa
Amani Obaid
AO
Al Abdouli
Reem Ahmed
RA
Abdulla Al
Salama Mohamed
SM
AlQahtani
Salama Abdulbasit
SA
Almajed
Shamma Saif
SS
Alzaabi
Mariam Salem
MS
Alkaabi
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018912:Arabs; D054626:Consumer Health Information; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010174:Pamphlets; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014479:United Arab Emirates; D055815:Young Adult