The Effectiveness of Video Animations as a Tool to Improve Health Information Recall for Patients: Systematic Review

Background: Access to clear and comprehensible health information is crucial for patient empowerment, leading to improved self-care, adherence to treatment plans, and overall health outcomes. Traditional methods of information delivery, such as written documents and oral communication, often result in poor memorization and comprehension. Recent innovations, such as animation videos, have shown promise in enhancing patient understanding, but comprehensive investigations into their effectiveness across various health care settings are lacking.

Objective: This systematic review aims to investigate the effectiveness of animation videos on health information recall in adult patients across diverse health care sectors, comparing their impact to usual information delivery methods on short-term and long-term recall of health information.

Methods: We conducted systematic searches in PubMed, CINAHL, and Embase databases, supplemented by manual searches of reference lists. Included studies were randomized controlled trials involving adult participants (≥18 years) that focused on the use of animation videos to provide health information measured against usual information delivery practice. There were no language restrictions. Out of 2 independent reviewers screened studies, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias using the Revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials (RoB2), Covidence was used to handle screening and risk of bias process. A narrative synthesis approach was applied to present results.

Results: A total of 15 randomized controlled trials-3 in the United States, 2 in France, 2 in Australia, 2 in Canada, and 1 in the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, Brazil, Austria, and Türkiye, respectively-met the inclusion criteria, encompassing 2,454 patients across various health care settings. The majority of studies (11/15, 73%) reported statistically significant improvements in health information recall when animation videos were used, compared with usual care. Animation videos ranged from 1 to 15 minutes in duration with the most common length ranging from 1 to 8 minutes (10/15) and used various styles including 2D cartoons, 3D computers, and whiteboard animations. Most studies (12/15) assessed information recall immediately after intervention, with only 3 studies including longer follow-up periods. Most studies exhibited some concerns related to the risk of bias, particularly in domains related to deviations from intended interventions and selection of reported results.

Conclusions: Animation videos appear to significantly improve short-term recall of health information among adult patients across various health care settings compared with usual care. This suggests that animation videos could be a valuable tool for informing patients in different health care settings. However, further research is needed to explore the long-term efficacy of these interventions, their impact on diverse populations, and how different animation styles might affect information recall. Future studies should also address methodological limitations identified in current research, including the use of validated outcome measures and longer follow-up periods.

Trial registration: PROSPERO CRD42022380016; http://crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=380016.