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Sim: Tips for Creating Effective Health Education Materials
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J Korean Diabetes 2011;12(2):99-103.

Published online: 22 January 2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4093/jkd.2011.12.2.99

Tips for Creating Effective Health Education Materials

Kang Hee Sim

Diabetes Education Unit, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea

Copyright © 2011 Korean Diabetes Association

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Health education materials are widely used to increase awareness and knowledge, change attitudes and beliefs, and help individuals adopt and maintain healthy lifestyle behaviors. Health professionals should provide patients with written health education materials that are patient-oriented and designed according to best practice principles in written health education material design. Health education materials are only effective if they are read, understood, and remembered by patients. Existing guidelines including Suitability Assessment of Materials (SAM) and Simplified Measure of Gobbledygoop (SMOG) offer concrete, useful tips on how to design visuals and how to choose appropriate language for patient education. These guidelines suggest that it is important to address key components including plain language, layout and design, organization, culturally sensitive graphics, and desired patient behavior. This report offers useful tips for creating effective health education materials.

Keywords: Health education, Written health education materials

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