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Effect of Health Information Leaflets on Knowledge of Preventive Healthcare Services among Adults in Nigeria

Abstract

Knowledge of preventive healthcare services is an important component of disease prevention, early detection, and appropriate utilization of healthcare services. Adults in Nigeria may have limited awareness of available preventive services such as immunization, blood pressure screening, blood glucose testing, cancer screening, health counselling, family planning, routine health checks, and other preventive interventions. Limited knowledge may contribute to underutilization of available services and missed opportunities for early identification and prevention of health conditions. Health information leaflets provide a simple and accessible means of communicating information about preventive healthcare services and may allow individuals to review health information repeatedly at their convenience. Against this background, this study investigates the effect of health information leaflets on knowledge of preventive healthcare services among adults in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on the Health Literacy Framework, Health Belief Model, and Social Cognitive Theory. The Health Literacy Framework emphasizes individuals' ability to access, understand, evaluate, and apply health information when making decisions about preventive healthcare. The Health Belief Model explains how perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and cues to action may influence individuals' knowledge and willingness to use preventive healthcare services. Social Cognitive Theory emphasizes learning through observation, reinforcement, self-efficacy, and interaction between individuals and their environments. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how health information leaflets may influence knowledge of preventive healthcare services among adults in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental or analytical cross-sectional research design. The study population will comprise adults aged 18 years and above attending selected public and private healthcare facilities or residing in selected communities across Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select geopolitical zones, states, local government areas, healthcare facilities or communities, and eligible participants. Health information leaflets will be assessed using indicators such as availability, accessibility, frequency of distribution, content coverage, readability, language, use of illustrations, clarity of information, cultural appropriateness, accuracy, and relevance to the target population. Knowledge of preventive healthcare services will be assessed using indicators such as awareness of routine health checks, blood pressure screening, blood glucose screening, cancer screening, immunization, family planning, health counselling, infectious disease prevention, lifestyle-related disease prevention, and other preventive services relevant to adults. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, preventive-health knowledge assessment tools, copies of distributed leaflets, distribution records, participant interviews, and relevant healthcare programme documents. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize participants' characteristics, exposure to health information leaflets, and knowledge scores. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, t-tests, correlation analysis, and logistic or multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the effect of health information leaflets on knowledge of preventive healthcare services. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, knowledge scores before and after exposure to the leaflets may be compared with those of a comparison group to determine changes associated with the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that health information leaflets have a significant positive effect on knowledge of preventive healthcare services among adults in Nigeria. Adults exposed to well-designed health information leaflets are expected to demonstrate greater awareness of available preventive services and their importance than adults without comparable exposure. Clear explanations, simple language, illustrations, locally relevant examples, and information about where and when services can be obtained may improve comprehension and recall. Leaflets may also complement verbal counselling by allowing patients to review information after leaving the healthcare facility and share relevant information with household members. Improved knowledge may increase awareness of opportunities for early detection and disease prevention. However, low literacy, language differences, visual difficulties, poorly designed materials, inadequate distribution, outdated information, and limited access to the preventive services described may reduce the effectiveness of leaflets. The study therefore expects clear, accurate, accessible, culturally appropriate, and regularly updated health information leaflets to contribute significantly to improved knowledge of preventive healthcare services among adults in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on health information leaflets, preventive healthcare knowledge, health literacy, health education, health promotion, disease prevention, healthcare communication, and public health in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, state ministries of health, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, hospitals, primary healthcare centres, health educators, community health workers, development partners, and policymakers regarding strategies for improving preventive-health communication. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for developing simple and culturally appropriate health information leaflets, translating materials into commonly understood local languages, improving distribution through healthcare facilities and community settings, incorporating visual communication strategies, and linking health information materials with accessible preventive healthcare services across Nigeria.

Keywords: Health information leaflets, preventive healthcare services, health knowledge, health literacy, health education, health promotion, disease prevention, healthcare communication, preventive healthcare, adults, Nigeria, public health.