Providing Japanese health care information for international visitors: digital animation intervention

Abstract

BackgroundOver 24 million international visitors came to Japan in 2016 and the number is expected to increase. Visitors could be at a risk of illness or injury that may result in hospitalization in Japan. We assessed the effects of a four-minute digital animation titled Mari Info Japan on the level of anxiety experienced by international visitors to Japan.MethodsWe conducted a non-randomized, controlled study at Narita International Airport outside Tokyo in December 2014. On the first day, we recruited international visitors for the intervention group at predetermined departure gates and, the following day, we sampled visitors for the control group at the same gates. We repeated this procedure twice over 4 days. The intervention group watched the digital animation and the control group read a standard travel guidebook in English. After receiving either intervention, they completed a questionnaire on their level of anxiety. The outcome was assessed using the Mari Meter-X, The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Form Y (STAI-Y), and a face scale, before and immediately after the intervention. We analyzed data with Wilcoxon rank sum tests.ResultsWe recruited 265 international visitors (134 in the intervention group, 131 in the control group), 241 (91%) of whom completed the questionnaire. Most of them had no previous Japanese health information before arrival in Japan. The level of anxiety about health services in Japan was significantly reduced in the intervention group (Mari Meter-X median: − 5 and 0, p < 0.001 and STAI-Y median: − 3 and 0, p < 0.001). The face scale analysis showed no significant difference.ConclusionsWatching a digital animation is more effective in reducing anxiety among international visitors to Japan compared with reading a standard brochure or guidebook. Such effective animations of health information should be more widely distributed to international visitors.Trial registrationUMIN-CTR (University Hospital Medical Information Network Center Clinical Trials Registry), UMIN000015023, September 3, 2014.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-018-3191-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Cross-cultural information for Japanese nurses at an international hospital: a controlled before-after intervention study

“…Our results were similar to a previous study con rming the advantages of providing succinct health information for international visitors to Japan [26]. People with dementia may have health needs but have limited language capacity.…”

“…It dealt with the main concerns of foreign patients [12]. It comprised of eleven points succinctly presented with music [26]. The nurses used an 8×5-inch digital notepad with headphones to watch the cartoon.…”

“…1. Mari Meter-X [16,26] the second half about their trait anxiety. State anxiety is the level of anxiety felt when taking care of foreign patients, the level of anxiety experienced in their daily is described by trait anxiety.…”

“…We created a digital cartoon movie, called Mari Info Japan to inform overseas visitors about the health system in Japan [25,26]. However, the effectiveness of providing cross-cultural information through an ordinary guidebook and a digital cartoon to nurses has not been explored.…”

Japanese health and safety information for overseas visitors: protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…First, overseas visitors tend to be young adults and think they are not very likely to become sick while travelling, but they are at high risk for injury [ 5 ]. Only 18% (45 out of 241) of overseas visitors, with a median age of 30–39 years, accessed information about the Japanese health care system in our previous study [ 6 ]. As one of the fastest growing host countries, Japan needs to rethink how its health care information will reach overseas visitors, including young adults.…”