Didactic or narrative? : evaluating the effectiveness of video style on breast cancer patients’ knowledge and communication about their cancer in the workplace

Abstract

Currently there is little extant research on patient education comparing multiple media. This mixed design randomized experiment aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of knowledge translation video styles (didactic vs. narrative) for educating women diagnosed with breast cancer on communicating about cancer within the workplace. Participants completed two online surveys administered 30 days apart. Participants received one of four randomly assigned knowledge translation interventions: narrative video, didactic video, narrative infographic handout or none. Statistical analyses of the hypotheses were completed to test the direct impact of intervention type on knowledge, intentions, behaviours and transportation (i.e., feeling immersed). Due to the small sample size (N = 62), there was not sufficient power for the statistical models to detect significant effects of the experimental manipulation. However, effect sizes for knowledge and transportation were sufficiently large to warrant consideration of the potential role of cancer stage as a moderator for the effect of medium.