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UNDERSTANDABILITY AND ACTIONABILITY OF ORAL HEALTH EDUCATION
INFOGRAPHICS
NMRR-19-3592-52167

Wong ST, Aminuddin MN, Ishak Shaifuddin I, Norkhafizah S

Introduction: Patient education is an important aspect of oral health care. Infographics
have emerged as an effective oral health education (OHE) medium. This study aimed to
evaluate understandability and actionability of OHE infographics produced by the Ministry
of Health Malaysia (MOH). Materials and Methods: Fifty-four MOH OHE infographics
were assessed by four raters consisted two dental officers and two dental therapists
independently. The Bahasa Malaysia version Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool
for Printable Materials, PEMAT-P(M) was used to determine understandability and
actionability of these infographics by referring to PEMAT(M)User’s Guide. Results:
Understandability score of these infographics ranged from 50.0% to 100 % with a mean
score of 92.5% (SD=11.83%), while actionability score ranged from 0.0% to 100.0% with a
mean score of 47.4% (SD=48.26%). Some infographics were rated poorly in several
understandability and actionability items. Low rating in understandability items was due
to infrequent everyday language use (7 materials) and undefined medical terms (7
materials). Low rating in actionability items was due to absence of action to take (26
materials), not addressing user directly when describing action (26 materials), not
breaking down action into manageable steps (30 materials), no practical element to take
action (30 materials) and lacking visual aids to make instructions easier to act on (30
materials). Conclusion: MOH OHE infographics were generally understandable but less
actionable and could be improved by making refinements according to criteria of
actionability items. Hence, action for user to take should be provided in the MOH OHE
infographics particularly on empowering them to improve oral hygiene practices.

Keywords: health education, patient education, oral health, infographics, understandability,
actionability, Malaysia

Virtual poster presentation at the 13 National Conference for Clinical Research (e-NCCR 2020) on 24 – 26 August 2020.
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Dr Wong Siong Ting Dr Aminuddin bin Mohd. Natar
Oya Road Dental Clinic Sibu Kuching Divisional Dental Office
Sarawak State Health Department Sarawak State Health Department
Ministry of Health Malaysia Ministry of Health Malaysia

Dr Ishak Shaifuddin bin Ibrahim Assoc Prof Dr Norkhafizah Saddki
Oral Health Division School of Dental Sciences
Sarawak State Health Department Universiti Sains Malaysia
Ministry of Health Malaysia. Kelantan Malaysia

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