Illustrations enhance older colorectal cancer patients' website satisfaction and recall of online cancer information.

This study aims to investigate the effects of illustrations in online cancer information on older cancer patients' website satisfaction (i.e. satisfaction with the attractiveness, comprehensibility and emotional support from the website) and recall of information. In an online experiment, 174 younger (<65 years) and older (≥65 years) colorectal cancer patients were randomly exposed to a webpage about transanal endoscopic microsurgery consisting of either text-only information, text with two cognitive illustrations or text with two affective illustrations. In general, adding cognitive illustrations compared with text-only information improved the satisfaction with the attractiveness of the website in both younger and older patients. For older patients in particular, cognitive illustrations facilitated recall of cancer information: whereas older patients recalled less information overall compared with younger patients (39% vs. 50%), no statistically significant differences in age on recall were observed when cognitive illustrations were added to text. Furthermore, older patients were more satisfied with the emotional support from the website than younger patients, especially when affective illustrations were present. Our results suggest that effective online cancer communication for ageing populations involves considering both cognitive and affective illustrations to enhance website satisfaction and recall of cancer information.

[1]  E. Smets,et al.  Using Cognitive and Affective Illustrations to Enhance Older Adults’ Website Satisfaction and Recall of Online Cancer-Related Information , 2014, Health communication.

[2]  J. Mikels,et al.  Meta-analysis of the age-related positivity effect: age differences in preferences for positive over negative information. , 2014, Psychology and aging.

[3]  L. van Dijk,et al.  May you never forget what is worth remembering: the relation between recall of medical information and medication adherence in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. , 2013, Journal of Crohn's & colitis.

[4]  Jane M. Young,et al.  Unmet supportive care needs in colorectal cancer: differences by age , 2012, Supportive Care in Cancer.

[5]  M. K. Cresci,et al.  Are Health Answers Online for Older Adults? , 2012 .

[6]  Guda van Noort,et al.  Tailored information for cancer patients on the Internet: effects of visual cues and language complexity on information recall and satisfaction. , 2011, Patient education and counseling.

[7]  Susan Kemper,et al.  The use of illustration to improve older adults' comprehension of health-related information: is it helpful? , 2009, Patient education and counseling.

[8]  Bo Xie,et al.  LIFELONG INTERACTIONSOlder adults, health information, and the internet , 2008, INTR.

[9]  Barbara S. Chaparro,et al.  Evaluating websites for older adults: adherence to ‘senior-friendly’ guidelines and end-user performance , 2008, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[10]  Thea Heeren,et al.  Recall in older cancer patients: measuring memory for medical information. , 2008, The Gerontologist.

[11]  S. Noar,et al.  Does tailoring matter? Meta-analytic review of tailored print health behavior change interventions. , 2007, Psychological bulletin.

[12]  D.T. Pham,et al.  User Choices for Modalities of Instructional Information , 2006, 2006 4th IEEE International Conference on Industrial Informatics.

[13]  L. G. Doak,et al.  The role of pictures in improving health communication: a review of research on attention, comprehension, recall, and adherence. , 2006, Patient education and counseling.

[14]  Geoffrey Mitchell,et al.  Information giving and decision-making in patients with advanced cancer: a systematic review. , 2005, Social science & medicine.

[15]  Sanghoon Park,et al.  Promoting Positive Emotion in Multimedia Learning Using Visual Illustrations , 2005 .

[16]  J. Day,et al.  Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2003 , 2005 .

[17]  M. T. Høybye,et al.  Online interaction. Effects of storytelling in an internet breast cancer support group , 2005, Psycho-oncology.

[18]  Siegwart Lindenberg,et al.  Old or frail: what tells us more? , 2004, The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences.

[19]  S. Ziebland,et al.  How the internet affects patients' experience of cancer: a qualitative study , 2004, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[20]  Katie E. Cherry,et al.  Pictorial Illustrations Enhance Memory for Sentences in Younger and Older Adults , 2003, Experimental aging research.

[21]  L. Carstensen,et al.  Socioemotional Selectivity Theory and the Regulation of Emotion in the Second Half of Life , 2003 .

[22]  Denise C Park,et al.  Theoretical models of cognitive aging and implications for translational research in medicine. , 2003, The Gerontologist.

[23]  Joshua Fogel,et al.  Internet use and social Support in women with breast cancer , 2002 .

[24]  A. House,et al.  Anxiety in cancer patients , 2000, British Journal of Cancer.

[25]  R. Mayer,et al.  The Role of Interest in Learning From Scientific Text and Illustrations: On the Distinction Between Emotional Interest and Cognitive Interest , 1997 .

[26]  T. Salthouse,et al.  Decomposing adult age differences in working memory. , 1991 .

[27]  A. Paivio.  Dual Coding Theory , 1990 .

[28]  John T. Cacioppo,et al.  The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion , 1986, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology.