Feasibility and acceptability of using information visualizations to improve HIV-related communication in a limited-resource setting: a short report

ABSTRACT

Infographics (visualizations that present information) can assist clinicians to offer health information to patients with low health literacy in an accessible format. In response, we developed an infographic intervention to enhance clinical, HIV-related communication. This study reports on its feasibility and acceptability at a clinical setting in the Dominican Republic. We conducted in-depth interviews with physicians who administered the intervention and patients who received it. We conducted audio-recorded interviews in Spanish using semi-structured interview guides. Recordings were professionally transcribed verbatim then analyzed using descriptive content analysis. Physician transcripts were deductively coded according to constructs of Bowen et al.'s feasibility framework and patient transcripts were inductively coded. Three physicians and 26 patients participated. Feasibility constructs endorsed by physicians indicated that infographics were easy to use, improved teaching, and could easily be incorporated into their workflow. Coding of patient transcripts identified four categories that indicated the intervention was acceptable and useful, offered feedback regarding effective clinical communication, and recommended improvements to infographics. Taken together, these data indicate our intervention was a feasible and acceptable way to provide clinical, HIV-related information and provide important recommendations for future visualization design as well as effective clinical communication with similar patient populations.

KEYWORDS:

• information visualization
• clinician-patient communication
• patient education
• feasibility
• nursing informatics

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to extend a special thank you to our participants, without whom this work would not have been possible. Also, we would like to thank Ynaliza González, who closely collaborated with us as a Research Assistant throughout the study. Her hard work and dedication to this research was a tremendous asset to our team. The research reported in this publication and the first author were supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Nursing Research under Award Number K99NR017829. The mentorship of RS was supported by National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Nursing Research under Award Number K24NR018621. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Institute of Nursing Research [grant number K24NR018621, K99NR017829].