The Reception of Translated and Adapted Texts on Disease Prevention for Pre-Adolescents Using Graphic Medicine Strategies

In recent years, the links between Translation Studies and Graphic Medicine have strengthened to enhance the dissemination of specialized health information for lay audiences. While in the Anglo-Saxon context graphic medicine has typically used only comics as a genre for health information dissemination, in Spain, other textual genres, such as infographics, have been considered as part of graphic medicine. An example of the translation-graphic medicine pairing in the Spanish context is the oncoTRAD project, in whose framework numerous health-related materials aimed at patients and their close ones have been designed. Despite the important number of materials produced, their reception by their target audiences had not been studied. To address this gap, a pilot study was conducted to assess the reception of materials by children and preadolescents, a priority audience for oncoTRAD. However, that study had a small sample size and a questionnaire with minor deficiencies. This article substantially expands on that study, counting on a larger sample (n=154) and an improved questionnaire. The results show a very positive reception of a comic and an infographic on disease prevention designed for children. These findings highlight the potential of the translation-graphic medicine pairing for disseminating health information among children and preadolescents, thereby contributing to the improvement of health literacy in our societies.