Childhood diarrhoea: two panel sequences for parents

The situation

The diarrhoea material circulating at Posyandu usually piles everything onto one sheet: definition, causes, symptoms, prevention and treatment. A parent whose child has diarrhoea has no time to read that in order, and a parent whose child is well sees no reason to read it at all.

Who it was for

Parents and carers of children under five in the Puskesmas catchment. Most read on a phone, often while holding a child, and the only thing they are looking for at that moment is what to do right now.

Approach

I split the material into two sequences with different orders. The first opens on symptoms and goes straight to the five things to do that day, because that is what a panicking reader wants. The second explains the definition, the causes and the signs of dehydration, as reference material read before anything happens.

Craft and compliance

Every panel is 1:1 with one idea each, and the same illustration of a house and its residents recurs across the panels as a marker of sequence. The dehydration danger signs are written as a checklist rather than a paragraph, because they are read while checking a child.

Outcome

Six panels were published as two sequences through the institution's official channel.

Evidence The only evidence is the published material and the channel's publication number. There is no measure of parents' knowledge before and after, so a gain in understanding cannot be claimed.

Reflection

Splitting the material in two meant breaking it mid-thought: the definition of diarrhoea sits in the second sequence, though a reader of the first may need it. I now put that definition as the opening line of the action panel.