title: Sweet Temptations: How Does Reading a Fotonovela About Diabetes Affect Dutch Adults with Different Levels of Literacy?
abstract: Recent studies suggest that health-related fotonovelas-booklets that portray a dramatic story using photographs and captions-may be effective health communication tools, especially for readers with a low level of literacy. In this experiment, effects on knowledge and behavioral intentions were assessed of a fotonovela originally developed for a Latin-American audience. Dutch readers from a low literacy group (N = 89) and a high literacy group (N = 113) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a fotonovela condition (all captions translated into Dutch), a traditional brochure condition (also in Dutch), and a control condition. On knowledge about diabetes, participants in the fotonovela condition outperformed participants in both other conditions. This finding was consistent across literacy levels. On behavioral intentions, however, readers of the fotonovela did not score significantly higher than participants in the other conditions. We also evaluated hypotheses proposed in the Entertainment Overcoming Resistance Model (EORM; Moyer-Gusé, 2008) on the possible mechanisms underlying persuasion through narratives. No support was found for the mechanisms proposed in the EORM. The outcomes of this study suggest that a fotonovela may be a valuable health education format for adults with varying levels of literacy, even if it was developed for a target group with a different cultural background.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Communication and Information Sciences , University of Groningen.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9109-5559
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Koops van 't Jagt
authors.affiliation: a Department of Communication and Information Sciences , University of Groningen.
authors.forename: John C J
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6874-1126
authors.initials: JCJ
authors.lastname: Hoeks
authors.affiliation: a Department of Communication and Information Sciences , University of Groningen.
authors.forename: Evelien
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9152-2378
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Duizer
authors.affiliation: b School of Pharmacy , University of Southern California.
authors.forename: Melvin
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8694-4533
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baron
authors.affiliation: b School of Pharmacy , University of Southern California.
authors.forename: Gregory B
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4905-4670
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Molina
authors.affiliation: b School of Pharmacy , University of Southern California.
authors.forename: Jennifer B
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9064-6603
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Unger
authors.affiliation: a Department of Communication and Information Sciences , University of Groningen.|c Language Centre, Stellenbosch University.
authors.forename: Carel J M
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5259-4291
authors.initials: CJM
authors.lastname: Jansen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000523:psychology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D057220:Health Literacy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D010174:Pamphlets; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D011932:Reading; D066269:Social Theory; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires