Comics in Health Settings: A brief introduction

1. Comics in Health Settings: A brief introduction Kathryn Houk, MLIS, AHIP, CHIS University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Health Sciences Library

2. AGenda • Learn a (tiny) bit about comics • Define Graphic Medicine (GM) • Learn a (tiny) bit about how Graphic Medicine supports patients and providers • Reflection activity

3. What are comics, exactly? They are Not: They are: Sequential art Telling a story Non-animated A combination of visual and text information • Images used to illustrate text • Cartoons • Drawings without implied action • Visualizations of data

4. Some unique features:

5. Why are comics special? Comics do, and are, the following: • Combine explicit expression (narrative) with abstract expression (art) • Approachability to information • Emotional connection and impact • Rooted in underground movementsand the need to express alternative viewpoints from the perceived norm

6. Comics Reduce Stigma • Comix and Indie Comics value the ability of comics to represent without fear  • “You” can be represented however the artist wishes • “They” can be represented however the artist wishes • Stigma, recognition & repercussion reduction

7. What is Graphic medicine? “The intersection of the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare.” Graphic Medicine Manifesto

8. Why is GM Popular? • Approachability to information • Can be child-friendly • Less-intimidating than an “official” flyer or brochure • Emotional connection and impact • Provide a companion/guide for those experiencing a similar health issue • Narrative/Stories: better for connection, retention and understanding • Low Literacy Friendly • Combination of pictures and words easier to understand than words alone • Fewer words to read on the page

9. GM & Health Literacy • The potential of educational comics as a health information medium • Booster Shot Media: Iggy and the Inhalers • “Iggy and The Inhalers has been the subject of a research study published in the Journal of School Nursing. In this public-school study, asthma knowledge increased significantly after educational intervention (p < .001) and this increase was retained at the one-month follow-up (p < .001).” • Informed consent • Medical graphic narratives to improve patient comprehension and periprocedural anxiety before coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention: a randomized trial • Cultural sensitivity • Engagement • Developing a Web-Based Comic for Newly Diagnosed Women With Breast Cancer: An Action Research Approach • Patient-Provider Interactions

10. Reframing to reduce stigma • Ways of showing pathology • Manifest • Signs and scars of illness are visible on the body • Concealed • Health conditions that occur intermittently, or cannot be noticed by the casual observer  • Invisible • Health conditions that cannot be observed, only experienced by the individual • Mental health and chronic/invisible diseases (and cancer) are a large percentage of current graphic medicine titles; due to the ability to make the invisible visible  • Artists choose how to present their pathology; influencing how the reader interprets and perceives the illness & its impact.  • “Iconography of illness”

11. GM for Healthcare Providers Benefits of creating and reading comics: • Communication & medical practice • Act of reading a comic is similar to art of diagnosis: Must piece together a story from incomplete information and inference • Empathy & ethics • “...assign and discuss graphic pathographies that give insights into different aspects of the illness experience.” • Preclinical years: remind students that the knowledge they are trying to master will help real people • Clinical and Residency years: reinforce that healing is more than treating a body • Personal well-being & reflection • Catharsis, stress relief, & meaning-making

12. “I felt sad and anxious and ashamed that morning as I sat before a blank white piece of paper, trying to help myself look at this tangle of feelings.” MK CerwiecGraphic Medicine Manifesto

13. Visual Literacy Test What is happening? What comic or visual elements does the artist make use of? Do you think the picture is taking place in reality?

14. Here it is with text What does the text provide that the image could not? How might the creator write differently if there was no imagery?

15. Thank you Please feel free to email me at kathryn.houk@unlv.edu