Short animated video increases knowledge and comfort in clinical counseling on inequitable health impacts of air pollution among interprofessional health learners and clinicians

Abstract

Background Air pollution is a major health risk contributing to global morbidity and mortality, yet clinicians do not routinely engage in counseling patients on this topic. Clinicians cite their lack of education as a common barrier. We developed a two-minute animated video on mitigating air pollution health risks and evaluated the efficacy of this video as an educational tool.Methods In March-June 2021, a convenience sample of Minnesota interprofessional health learners and clinicians viewed the video and completed an electronic survey that assessed pre-/post-video intervention changes in a) didactic and clinically applied knowledge on health impacts of air pollution, b) perceived comfort in identifying at-risk patients and counseling them on relevant preventive health behaviors, c) intentions/barriers to counseling patients, d) beliefs and attitudes related to the health harms of air pollution, and e) perceptions of the overall acceptability of the intervention.Results The 218 participants included learners and clinicians in medicine, nursing, and advanced practice provision. Respondents’ knowledge scores and self-reported level of comfort in identifying high-risk patients and counseling them on preventative health behaviors increased significantly pre-/post-intervention. The video also effectively altered participants’ misperceptions about the health impacts of air pollution. While less than half of participants (43.6%) reported they intended to engage in counseling patients as a result of watching the video, 52.3% indicated they might do so. Lack of time during clinical encounters and lack of training were reported as persistent barriers to engaging in this counseling. Overall, participants found the video to be an effective educational tool, indicating that they wanted their colleagues and patients to watch the video and would like to see further short animated videos on other environmental health topics.Conclusions A two-minute animated educational video significantly improved knowledge of inequitable health impacts of air pollution and improved perceived comfort in identifying and counseling at-risk patients among health professional learners and clinicians regardless of profession, level of training, or pre-intervention knowledge level. Academic health professional training programs and health systems should consider adopting this modality as a tool for educating learners, clinicians, and patients on environmental health risks.