Health literacy in COPD

Figures & data

Table 1 Tools that reinforce advice and information given during the consultation

Improving comprehension in consultations
Written or pictorial information materials	Posters, audiotapes, videos and DVDs
Teaching of self management skills	Personalised written information on medication regimens
Dictating letters to referring doctors in front of the patient	Copying letters to patients
Telephone consultations and reviews	Inter-appointment contacts/support

Figure 1 An example of an image used in guessability and translucency testing. The guessability questionnaire asks subjects to give a short meaning to the image for each image being tested. The translucency questionnaire allows subjects to review the image and the meaning and asks subject to rate the relationship between the two. The score ranges from one (no relationship) to seven (very strong relationship). Subjects are normally asked to complete the guessability questionnaire before the translucency questionnaire.

Figure 2 Example of a written COPD self management plan; Pictorial versions of this plan are currently being tested with COPD patients.