Enhancing Children's Understanding of Diseases Through Visualised Medical Metaphors

The Role of Medifoor

Abstract

It is generally assumed that children process visualised information better than verbal or written information. To leverage this, we developed and validated visualised narrative medical metaphors (Medifoors) as communication tools for asthma and constipation to support paediatricians in simplifying their explanations. In this mixed-method study, we compared the effects of Medifoor-based explanations on children’s and parental self-reported understanding and children’s recall of disease explanation. This mixed-method study took place between May and July 2022 in Elisabeth-Tweesteden Hospital, Tilburg, the Netherlands. Eighteen children aged 8 to 18 years with symptoms of asthma or constipation, and their parents/caregivers, were included. Compared to the standard verbal explanation, more children reported improved understanding of their disease (2/10 vs. 7/8) and treatment (2/10 vs. 4/8) when Medifoors were used. While the small sample size limits generalisability, these findings suggest that visualised narrative metaphors (Medifoor) may enhance children’s understanding and recall of medical information. However, these findings should be confirmed in further research with larger cohorts.