Health Psychology, 2nd Edition

Organization of information

In addition to providing easy to understand information that is wanted by the target
audience and presented in the right context, information providers can make
information easier to understand and remember by organizing it in a manner that is
easy to process. Providing information in a logical order facilitates processing. For
example, clarifying the cause of an illness before explaining how a treatment works
can help a patient understand why the treatment is necessary or why it should be
administered as recommended. Telling the audience what you are about to tell them
can also enhance recall. This is often referred to as ‘explicit categorization’. For
example, a nurse might say ‘First, I am going to tell you what I think is wrong,...
now I’m going to tell you about the treatment.. ., etc.’ Highlighting and repeating
important points also helps people pay particular attention to them (‘This is important
so I’m going to say it again’). Finally, when giving advice, it is important to be specific,
e.g. ‘You need to lose one stone in weight’ is much easier to remember and act on
than ‘You need to lose weight’. Ley et al. (1976) wrote a manual for GPs explaining
these simple techniques and assessed patient recall for information provided in
consultations with four GPs before and after they read the manual. Results showed
that recall increased from 52–59 per cent across the four doctors at baseline to 61–80
per cent after the GPs had read the manual. Thus, these five simple presentation
techniques (logical order, explicit categorization, specific advice, emphasizing and
repeating important points) make information easier to process and recall.

168 MOTIVATION AND BEHAVIOUR

Allergy

Substances

In the

environment Virus-infection

Strain

Emotions

Heredity

Hormones

In the

body

Age

24-Hour cycle

Factors that influence

an asthma attack

FIGURE 8.1Graphic organizers facilitate text comprehension.

Source: Kools et al. (2006). Reprinted with permission of SAGE Publications.