Kristin L' Carman, PhD

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Creating audience-centered print materials

• Kristin L. Carman, PhD
• Pam Dardess, MPH, Sandy Robinson, MSPH
• American Institutes for Research
• AHRQ 2009 Conference
• September 13-16, 2009

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Objectives for todays presentation

• What does it mean to create audience-centered
  materials?
• Show and discuss specific examples of materials
  that reflect audience-centered principles

• Communications Toolkit
• Guides for Treatment Decisions
• Your Guide to Preventing and Treating Blood Clots

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Creating audience-centered materials

• Audience-centered materials are
• User-focused
• Evidence-based
• Culturally appropriate
• Accessible
• Actionable

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User-focused

• Communication and materials
• Reflect the realities of peoples lives - their
  circumstances, attitudes, beliefs, and practices
• Acknowledge and address users information needs
  and concerns
• Reflect user preferences for formatting and
  dissemination
• This requires involving your intended audience
  throughout the development cycle test drive
  your messages and materials and gather feedback

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Evidence-based development

• In creating materials, draw on what we know about
  best practices from fields such as

• Health literacy and numeracy
• Decision science
• Communication research
• Dissemination research and social marketing

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Culturally appropriate

• Materials reflect and speak to your audiences
  lives and realities
• Demonstrate understanding of values, behaviors,
  attitudes, and practices
• Use appropriate language, examples, pictures

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Accessible

• Conveys whats in it for me
• Plain language
• Easy to understand content
• Easy to read format

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Whats in it for the reader?

• Who should be reading this?
• Whats the benefit for them?
• What can it tell them or help them to do?
• What cant it tell them?

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Plain language

• Write the way you talk
• Use active voice
• Use common words as possible
• Use short sentences, on average
• Use pronunciation guides

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Explain unfamiliar terms using examples
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Easy-to-understand content

• Set the stage and build an information foundation
• This document explains what it means to get good
  quality health care
• and serves as the basis for subsequent
  documents that talk about how to get good quality
  care

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Easy-to-understand content

• Avoid information overload
• Chunk information
• Brief, but complete

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Easy-to-read format
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Actionable

• Concise bullets
• Concrete, specific information
• At-hand resources for people who want more
  information

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Questions to Ask
Actionable

• Tells exactly what questions to ask and consider
• One page at-a-glance format
• Space to jot down notes

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Summary

• Creating reader-centered materials means
• Presenting clear, factual information
• Helping people understand why the information is
  important to them and how it can be used
• Making it easy to use the information in context
• The challenge is not merely to communicate
  accurate information to consumers, but to present
  and target that information so that it is
  actually used in decision-making

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Questions? Comments?
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References and Additional Resources

• References
• Communication Toolkit
• http//www.businessgrouphealth.org/usinginformatio
  n/
• Comparative Effectiveness Summary Guides
• http//effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/
• Your Guide to Preventing and Treating Blood Clots
• http//ahrq.hhs.gov/consumer/bloodclots.htm
• Additional Resources
• Making Health Communication Programs Work (also
  called the Pink Book)
• http//www.cancer.gov/pinkbook
• Plain Language Improving Communication from the
  Federal Government to the Public
• http//www.plainlanguage.gov

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For More Information
Kristin L. Carman, PhD Managing Director, Health
Policy and Research American Institutes for
Research kcarman_at_air.org 202.403.5090