Transcript
Dr. Leuchars:
This is DermConsult on ReachMD. I'm Dr. Mary Leuchars, and today we're diving into a pilot study published in the Journal of Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery that tested a pictorial approach to eczema education for patients and families.
In the Patient Eczema Education Pictorial Study, or PEEPS, investigators developed and tested a single page pictorial handout, using an analogy to explain the course and care of eczema. The investigators found statistically significant and clinically meaningful changes in both DLQI and EASI scores, and they attribute the tool's success in part to its use of an analogy and visual cues, which are known to improve information retention and treatment adherence.
Since this was a single-site, uncontrolled pilot study, the investigators can't confirm that the intervention alone drove improvements in quality of life or clinical outcomes, and the absence of validated eczema-specific knowledge tests for adults limits the ability of directly measuring learning across age groups. Still, these findings support the idea that the simplicity, visual format, low cost, and ease of use of a pictorial handout can offer effective education in this context.
This is a really refreshing study as a physician—to see a creative study looking at how patients can more easily understand the course of a disease, particularly with eczema, which is really common in kids and a real burden on the time of parents and carers as well. To simplify a measurement to monitor treatment and symptoms is really valuable. There are certain people who learn better using visual cues as well rather than reading the script of a measurement scale. So I think for those people in particular, this is really valuable. And to simplify it in terms of a fire is just like a storybook is for kids.
I think this is going to maybe prompt other specialties to have similar approaches in measuring treatment and symptoms, particularly in kids or populations who respond better to visual cues rather than text.
For ReachMD, I'm Dr. Mary Leuchars. To access this and other episodes in our series, visit DermConsult on ReachMD.com, where you can Be Part of the Knowledge. Thanks for listening.
