The use of comics to promote health awareness: A template using nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Abstract

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) constitutes a major threat to public health systems worldwide on account of its widespread prevalence and increasing incidence. More effective tools to raise awareness and increase health communication are therefore needed. Comics may constitute an effective language for this purpose, given the permanence, adaptability and ability of this form of communication to convey complex information, using both visual components and the creation of narrative involvement, thus promoting both awareness and health-conscious behaviours. Importantly, this process requires careful preparation in terms of selecting both the key biomedical concepts to be conveyed, as well as a graphical style and appropriate characters and a narrative arc with which a target audience can identify with. Here we provide a brief introduction to the use of comics in health communication and propose a possible roadmap for the development of comic-based tools for diverse conditions, using the context of NAFLD.

Keywords: NAFLD; biomedical knowledge; comics; health communication.