Audiotapes and literacy: A summary of current research

This is the second in a series of briefs that focus on evaluative research into the use of alternative means of health communication; these include plain language, audiotapes, videotapes, interactive media, and visual images. Searches were conducted of the medical and education literatures as part of a Health Literacy Project that is examining the communication needs of patients with limited literacy or other communication barriers. The guiding question was: ‘What impacts have been documented in relation to the identified target groups?’

The Health Literacy Project is a joint initiative of The Centre for Literacy of Quebec and the Nursing Department of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC).

Introduction

Some research on adult literacy and social policy has suggested a correlation between limited literacy skills and poor health. Understanding medical consultations and information is critical in helping people make informed health decisions and maintain adequate self-care. However, the dominant method of communication in medical fields is print pamphlets and information sheets, much of it written at a Grade 10 level or higher. Increasingly, there are suggestions that health care professionals should use other means to interact with populations who have barriers to communication, including limited literacy.

Audiotapes may provide one suitable alternative learning tool. A review of the medical and education literatures on the effectiveness of audiotapes for communicating health information showed however that, while they have potential advantages in certain circumstances, there has been no systematic research conducted on their use with the groups in question. This brief summarizes the literature and suggests some future research questions.

Methodology

A search was conducted of the following medical and education databases: Medline, CINAHL, ERIC, Cochrane Library and Dissertation Abstracts. Some journals were searched manually. Keywords included terms applied to a hearing medium such as “audiotape,” “audio recording,” “tape recording” and “cassette,” and educational terms such as “patient education” and “health education.” The search identified 283 articles of interest. Thirty-one of these articles were reviewed for this brief. These studies focus on audiotape recordings of healthrelated information as educational interventions for patients and their family members. They measure the value of audiotapes for the purpose of information exchange. A search for the use of audiotapes as an effective educational tool for the low-literate and hard-to-reach populations did not yield any results.

The 31 studies focused on the following criteria:

• Knowledge/recall – long- and short-term retention of medical information.
• Behavioural change – how individuals apply new knowledge in their daily lives by following medical advice and/or changing their lifestyle.
• Anxiety – emotional distress and fear after a diagnosis or before a medical procedure.
• Self-care – patients’ interest and consistency in managing their healthcare.
• Satisfaction – how valuable and/or helpful patients find an intervention.