DataSheet1_COVID ISSUE: Visual Narratives About COVID-19 Improve Message Accessibility, Self-Efficacy, and Health Precautions.docx

Visual narratives are promising tools for science and health communication, especially for broad audiences in times of public health crisis, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we used the Lifeology illustrated “flashcard” course platform to construct visual narratives about COVID-19, and then assessed their impact on behavioral intentions. We conducted a survey experiment among 1,775 health app users. Participants viewed illustrated (sequential art) courses about: 1) sleep, 2) what COVID-19 is and how to protect oneself, 3) mechanisms of how the virus works in the body and risk factors for severe disease. Each participant viewed one of these courses and then answered questions about their understanding of the course, how much they learned, and their perceptions and behavioral intentions toward COVID-19. Participants generally evaluated “flashcard” courses as easy to understand. Viewing a COVID-19 “flashcard” course was also associated with improved self-efficacy and behavioral intentions toward COVID-19 disease prevention as compared to viewing a “flashcard” course about sleep science. Our findings support the use of visual narratives to improve health literacy and provide individuals with the capacity to act on health information that they may know of but find difficult to process or apply to their daily lives.

视觉叙事是科学与健康传播领域极具潜力的工具，在公共卫生危机（如COVID-19疫情）期间，尤其适用于面向广大普通受众开展传播工作。本研究依托Lifeology可视化抽认卡（flashcard）课程平台，构建了新冠病毒相关的视觉叙事内容，并评估其对受众行为意向的影响。我们面向1775名健康应用用户开展了一项调查实验：参与者需观看三类采用序列艺术（sequential art）形式的插画课程，内容分别为：1）睡眠相关知识；2）新冠病毒（COVID-19）基础知识与个人防护方法；3）病毒在人体内的致病机制及重症高危因素。每名参与者仅观看其中一类课程，随后需完成问卷，内容涉及对课程的理解程度、所学知识收获量，以及对新冠疫情的认知与防疫行为意向。结果显示，参与者普遍认为抽认卡课程易于理解。与观看睡眠科学相关抽认卡课程的参与者相比，观看新冠防疫抽认卡课程的参与者，其防疫自我效能感与行为意向均得到显著提升。本研究结果证实，视觉叙事可有效提升公众健康素养，帮助受众掌握虽已知晓却难以理解或应用于日常生活的健康信息，并将其转化为实际行动。