Comics as a Medium for Providing Information on Adult Immunizations

Abstract

This study compared the following effects of two vaccine information flyers—one developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) versus one adapted from this information to a comic medium (comic)—on adults: (a) attitude toward the flyer; (b) perceived informativeness of the flyer; (c) intention to seek more information about adult immunizations after viewing the flyer; and (d) intention to get immunized after viewing the flyer. A between-group, randomized trial was used to randomly assign adults (age 18 years or older) at an ambulatory care center to review the CDC or comic flyer. Participants were asked to complete a survey to measure several outcome variables. Items were measured using a 7-point semantic differential scale. Independent-samples t-test was used for comparisons. A total of 265 surveys (CDC n = 132 vs comic n = 133) were analyzed. The comic flyer had a statistically significant effect on participants’ attitudes and their perception of the flyer’s informativeness compared to the CDC flyer. Flyer type did not have a statistically significant effect on intention-related variables. The study findings showed that the comic flyer was positively evaluated compared to the CDC flyer. These findings could provide a new direction for developing adult educational materials.

Acknowledgments

Findings of this research were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy in Anaheim, California (July 23–27, 2016) and at the 10th annual National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media in Atlanta Georgia (August 23–25, 2016). The authors thank the staff at the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center at Medisys St. Albans, NY, for allowing data collection at their office location. The authors acknowledge the contributions of Safiya Yearwood and Ankit Shah for their assistance in the data collection and data entry phase of the study and thank Gregory Fenton and Anthony Nania for their help with the designing of the comic flyer used in this study. A special acknowledgment also goes to all the participants who volunteered for this study. The authors thank Dr. Wenchen Wu, PhD, Dr. Rajesh Nayak, PhD, Ms. Rosemary Brown, and the reviewers for their valuable feedback on the earlier versions of this manuscript.

Funding

Funding for this research was provided through the New Investigator Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Notes

¹ This suggestion was provided by one of the reviewers.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this research was provided through the New Investigator Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.