Development of Conceptual Animation Video Library to Explain Health Behavior Theory Applications from the Peer-reviewed Public Health Literature

ABSTRACT

Background

While most undergraduate students in public health are aware of health behavior theories and models, they lack sufficient knowledge about how to apply and test them in Health Education/promotion research. Purpose: Evaluate eight new conceptual animation (CA) videos that explained theory and model testing in eight research articles from the public health literature. Methods: A convenience sample of public health faculty and undergraduate students pretested the CA video series during Summer 2019. Following pretesting, a convenience sample of 24 undergraduate public health majors completed an online evaluation survey about the CA video series to assess learning outcomes, quality, and student engagement. Results: Every CA video in the series received usability scores (>80.3) consistent with an “A” usability grade. Academic year and student usability ratings were significantly associated with perceived quality of the learning experience, R² =.18, R²_adj =.14, F_9,229 = 5.28, P <.001. Discussion: The new CA video series improved the quality of students’ learning experience about select public health theories and models, especially among underclassmen. Translation to Health Education Practice: These promising findings warrant further investigation into how conceptual animation can be used as a pedagogical tool to improve student understanding of complex public health concepts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Office of the Provost at East Carolina University [grant number 560408].