Images in health care: potential and problems

Area of Science:

• Health communication
• Visual literacy
• Medical imaging

Background:

• Healthcare communication research is increasing.
• Visual communication in healthcare is a growing but overlooked area.
• Society is becoming more visually literate, increasing reliance on images.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the increasing use of visual communication in healthcare.
• To argue for the necessity of a strong evidence base for image-based health interventions.
• To explore reasons for the lack of research and propose solutions.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and synthesis of existing research and theory.
• Analysis of the current state of visual communication in healthcare.
• Identification of barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration.

Main Results:

• The use of visual communication in healthcare is expanding rapidly.
• A significant lack of empirical evidence underlies many image-based health interventions.
• Relevant research is fragmented across disciplines, hindering progress.

Conclusions:

• The growing reliance on visual communication in healthcare requires a robust evidence base.
• Interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial to integrate existing theories and develop new research.
• Future efforts should focus on building a sophisticated evidence base for visual health interventions.