BACKGROUND A variety of multimodal treatment options are available for colorectal cancer and many patients want to be involved in decisions about their therapies. However, their desire for autonomy is limited by lack of disease-specific knowledge. Visual aids may be helpful tools to present complex data in an easy-to-understand, graphic form to lay persons. The aim of the present study was to e...

Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this and doing the exercise, go to first "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read succeeding essay. We live in visual age, which has led many public speakers believe every formal speech give requires aids. This too simplistic. Visual aids are supposed aid speech, not d...

Visual aids can improve comprehension of risks associated with medical treatments, screenings, and lifestyles. Do visual aids also help decision makers accurately assess their risk comprehension? That is, do visual aids help them become well calibrated? To address these questions, we investigated the benefits of visual aids displaying numerical information and measured accuracy of self-assessme...

To conduct a scoping review on the literature visual aids in health education for persons with low-literacy. A methodology was employed. Pre-defined selection criteria identified 47 studies inclusion. Data were extracted relation to: (a) definitions of low-literacy and literacy, (b) population studied, (c) research country, (d) consent procedures, (e) used, (f) development aids, (g) targeted ou...