Cultural Relatability And Attractiveness Of Educational Materials Improve Engagement Among Black Patients

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Purpose: There is a lack of cultural representation in current patient-facing education materials for surgical conditions. Inclusive educational materials are crucial and have been shown to drive engagement and trust during patient-provider encounters. This culturally-tailored approach to patient education has the potential to minimize the existing disparities in the utilization of surgical treatments. To better understand the role of culturally tailored educational materials in patient-provider communication, patient comprehension, and shared decision-making, we created and pilot-tested a custom Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) educational brochure. Methods: We developed patient-facing CTS educational materials with illustrations that were intentionally designed to represent individuals from racially/ethnically diverse backgrounds. Chat-GPT was used to ensure that the readability of the brochure was at a 6 th -grade level. Patients were recruited from community outreach or hand surgery clinic, and each interview lasted roughly an hour. We performed nine one-on-one semi-structured interviews with Black patients using video teleconference, from November 2024 to January 2025. The data was transcribed and coded manually. Interpretative description was used to understand the experiences described by Black patients and to garner major themes on the impact of inclusive educational materials. Results: Four themes emerged. First, Black patients describe alienation with non-inclusive educational materials that limited their comprehension of the information: [previous educational materials] didn't show anybody who looked like meit was mostly people from European backgrounds, from cultures, their lifestyles had nothing to do with mine. So, I felt, in all cases, I felt like an outsider looking in, looking at someone else's experience (Participant 1). Second, inclusive visual cues such as skin tone and body imagery are markers for relevance, allowing for better contextualization of the information: I'm looking at the skin. Like the skin tone, color of the thing. It looks like...A black person's hand. So, it looks likeI can relate to this (Participant 7). Third, representation in educational materials builds emotional safety and belonging, reducing anxiety and increasing comprehension: I think whoever lays something out like this is going to be ahead of the game and provide a relationship and trust. I think this is huge and I would feel very comfortable...This really shows very detailed information on what the patient is experiencing and going through and the outcomethis is some powerful stuff (Participant 4). Fourth, representation inspires agency, engagement, and retention of the material: I think it would benefit anyone who's going through that procedure because it's detailed. But more importantly... It draws an interest to me because of the skin tone, so I'm included (Participant 5). Conclusions : Our findings indicate that inclusive educational materials go beyond just informing; they validate a patients lived experience, empower informed decision-making, and promote cultural relatability in surgical care. Implementing educational tools that are tailored to emotional, visual, and cultural dimensions may serve to mitigate existing disparities and promote equity in the treatment of surgical conditions.© 2026. Plastic Surgery Research Council | All rights reserved |*Source: https://ps-rc.org/meeting/Program/2026/OS37.cgi*

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