Do videos improve website satisfaction and recall of online cancer-related information in older lung cancer patients?

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effects of personalized audiovisual information in addition to text on website satisfaction and recall of cancer-related online information in older lung cancer patients. METHODS: An experiment using a 3 (condition text only vs. text with nonpersonalized video vs. text with personalized video) by 2 (age patient younger [<65 yrs] vs. older [≥65 yrs]) between-subjects factorial design was conducted. Patients were randomly assigned to one of the three information conditions stratified by age group. RESULTS: Patients were more satisfied with the comprehensibility, attractiveness, and the emotional support from the website when information was presented as text with personalized video compared to text only. Text with personalized video also outperformed text with nonpersonalized video regarding emotional support from the website. Furthermore, text with video improved patients' recall of cancer-related information as compared to text only. Older patients recalled less information correctly than younger patients, except when we controlled for Internet use. CONCLUSION: Text with personalized audiovisual information can enhance website satisfaction and information recall. Internet use plays an important role in explaining recall of information. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS The results of this study can be used to develop effective health communication materials for cancer patients.