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. 2022 Nov;26(11):2318-2338.
doi: 10.1007/s10995-022-03549-5. Epub 2022 Sep 24.

Comprehension of Pictograms Demonstrating the Risk of Medication Use During Pregnancy: A Systematic Review

Bianca Vendruscolo Bianchini  1 , Karine Curvello  2 , Camila Giugliani  2   3 , Tatiane da Silva Dal Pizzol  2
Affiliations

Comprehension of Pictograms Demonstrating the Risk of Medication Use During Pregnancy: A Systematic Review

Bianca Vendruscolo Bianchini et al. Matern Child Health J. 2022 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to summarize the comprehension of a pictogram about the risk of medication use during pregnancy.

Methods: A systematic review was performed using the PRISMA checklist of the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, CINAHL, PsycInfo, LILACS, Academic Search Premier, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, grey literature (Google Scholar and OpenAIRE), ClinicalTrials.gov website, and design journals and congresses. The search was performed since the database inception, without language or year of publication restrictions.

Results: Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria for this review, 2 of which were randomized clinical trials. The pictograms and methods used varied widely among studies. The comprehension of the pregnancy pictograms had a complex communication outcome with a variation of 21-96%.

Conclusions for practice: The lack of a standard pictogram and uniform methods to evaluate the comprehension of the pregnancy pictogram made it challenging to reach a conclusion with the studies available to date on the safety and efficacy of the pregnancy pictogram to alert the risk of medication use.

Keywords: Health communication; Pictogram; Pictogram comprehension; Pregnant women; Systematic review.

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