The Development and Testing of an Educational Video for Patients With End Stage Kidney Disease Receiving Dialysis in Two Tertiary Hospitals in Cape Town

Abstract

Objectives

Medical nutrition therapy plays a crucial role in managing end-stage kidney disease. Nutrition education should be comprehensible, positive, and actionable. Storytelling can provide context, aid comprehension and retention of new information, and foster a sense of connection among patients. The study aimed to develop a video based on the “Healthy Eating in Kidney Disease” infographic and to test the knowledge of patients before and after watching the video. The study investigated the association between factors such as the number of years receiving dialysis, income, and education level on pre- and postvideo scores.

Methods

This experimental before–after study developed an animated nutrition education video based on the South African–based infographic “Healthy Eating for Kidney Disease” in collaboration with an animator and the researchers. The video was designed in animated format in English, Afrikaans, and isiXhosa. The developed video was used to test participants’ knowledge by using the same questionnaire before and after watching the video.

Results

The developed video was tested on 125 participants undergoing peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis. Participants had a mean age of 42.06 (±standard deviation 10.99) years. Predominantly, participants used isiXhosa (n = 62, 50.8%) as their primary language, followed by Afrikaans and English. Most participants (65.6%; n = 82) exhibited adequate prevideo knowledge scores, with a mean score of 67.73%. Postvideo, the majority (59.2%; n = 74) achieved good knowledge scores with a mean of 82.32%. Noteworthy improvements were observed in knowledge categories postintervention, reflecting a significant positive change (P < .001), with a mean increase of 14.59%.

Conclusion

The educational animated video for end-stage kidney disease patients was successfully developed and tested. The results indicated the video's effectiveness in enhancing participants' knowledge. Although no correlations emerged between knowledge scores and demographic factors, the study suggests that video-based education holds promise in encouraging behavioural changes and improving health outcomes.