Utility and Acceptability of a Brief Type 2 Diabetes Visual Animation: Mixed Methods Feasibility Study

Mohsen Alyami; Anna Serlachius; Mikaela Law; Rinki Murphy; Turky H Almigbal; Mataroria Lyndon; Mohammed A Batais; Rawabi K Algaw; Elizabeth Broadbent

doi:10.2196/35079

Utility and Acceptability of a Brief Type 2 Diabetes Visual Animation: Mixed Methods Feasibility Study

JMIR Form Res. 2022 Aug 9;6(8):e35079. doi: 10.2196/35079.

Authors

Mohsen Alyami¹, Anna Serlachius¹, Mikaela Law¹, Rinki Murphy^{2

3}, Turky H Almigbal^{4

5}, Mataroria Lyndon⁶, Mohammed A Batais^{4

5}, Rawabi K Algaw⁷, Elizabeth Broadbent¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
² School of Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
³ Auckland District Health Board, Auckland, New Zealand.
⁴ Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ King Saud University Medical City, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Centre for Medical and Health Sciences Education, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
⁷ Vision College of Medicine, Vision Colleges, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

PMID: 35943787
PMCID: PMC9399876
DOI: 10.2196/35079

Abstract

Background: Visualizations of illness and treatment processes are promising interventions for changing unhelpful perceptions and improving health outcomes. However, these are yet to be tested in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Objective: This study assesses the cross-cultural acceptability and potential effectiveness of a brief visual animation of T2DM at changing unhelpful illness and treatment perceptions and self-efficacy among patients and family members in 2 countries, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia. Health care professionals' views on visualization are also explored.

Methods: A total of 52 participants (n=39, 75% patients and family members and n=13, 25% health care professionals) were shown a 7-minute T2DM visual animation. Patients and family members completed a questionnaire on illness and treatment perceptions and self-efficacy before and immediately after the intervention and completed semistructured interviews. Health care professionals completed written open-ended questions. Means and 95% CIs are reported to estimate potential effectiveness. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted on qualitative data.

Results: All participants rated the visual animation as acceptable and engaging. Four main themes were identified: animation-related factors, impact of the animation, animation as an effective format for delivering information, and management-related factors. Effect sizes (ranged from 0.10 to 0.56) suggested potential effectiveness for changing illness and treatment perceptions and self-efficacy among patients and family members.

Conclusions: Visualizations are acceptable and may improve the perceptions of patients' with diabetes in a short time frame. This brief visual animation has the potential to improve current T2DM education. A subsequent randomized controlled trial to investigate the effects on illness and treatment perceptions, adherence, glycemic control, and unplanned hospital admission is being prepared.

Keywords: animation; illness perception; intervention; mobile phone; type 2 diabetes mellitus; visualization.

©Mohsen Alyami, Anna Serlachius, Mikaela Law, Rinki Murphy, Turky H Almigbal, Mataroria Lyndon, Mohammed A Batais, Rawabi K Algaw, Elizabeth Broadbent. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 09.08.2022.