CANCER CELLS ARE LIKE WEEDS
Use of Visual Analogies to Explain Cancer Treatments

Kara Lukasiewicz1, Derek Ng1, Gael McGill2, Jodie Jenkinson1

1Biomedical Communications Program, University of Toronto; 2Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School

 

Open_Access_logo.jpg

 

Abstract

Estimates are that more than 50% of adults living in North America have low health literacy. Unfortunately, much of the available health education material is written at a grade level that most people don't understand. To facilitate understanding, a 3D animation was created to explain cancer treatment options using analogies between cancer cells and weeds. The goal is to create educational material that people of all levels of health literacy can understand and learn from.

To view a high resolution PDF of this poster, select the "PDF" associated with this title on the JBC Table of Contents.

 
Vesalius Trust logo
This Vesalius Trust research poster was presented at the 2017
Association of Medical Illustrators' Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas


References

1. Institute of Medicine. 2004. "Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion". Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

2. Berkman, N. et al. 2011. "Health Literacy Interventions and Outcomes: An Updated Systematic Review." Annals of Internal Medicine 155 (2): 97–107.

3. Oldach, B. and Katz, M. 2014. "Patient Education and Counseling Health Literacy and Cancer Screening : A Systematic Review." Patient Education and Counseling 94 (2). Elsevier Ireland Ltd: 149–57.

4. Chapman, K. et al. 2003."Lay Understanding of Terms Used in Cancer Consultations." Psycho-Oncology 12 (6): 557–66.

Licensing

The authors have chosen to license this content under a Creative Commons Attribution, NonCommercial, NoDerivatives License 4.0 International License.