Development of a visual recurrence prevention tool

ABSTRACT

Lower education levels among addiction treatment service users poses a significant communication barrier in addiction treatment. We sought to develop a new visual educational resource to support recurrence prevention among those seeking alcohol dependency treatment. Eighty-six Canadian addiction counseling professionals provided feedback on the model developed based upon five principles of evidence-based visuals: content, cognitive load, writing style, organization, and color choice. Thematic analysis revealed overwhelmingly positive feedback for the infographic as a resource that could benefit service users with poor educational backgrounds or for whom English was not their first language. Specific feedback and critique were used to generate an enhanced visual resource that combines science communication theory with clinical expertise of addiction counselor in order to reinforce complex ideas in a simpler manner.

KEYWORDS:

• Addiction treatment education
• alcohol misuse
• health information
• infographic
• recurrence
• visual communication

Disclosure statement

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