Design considerations for adult patient education

A variety of factors require attention in the design of patient education programs for adults. Andragogy, the art and science of helping adults learn, describes certain conditions of learning that are more conducive to growth and development for adults and prescribes practices in the learning-teaching transaction to meet them. Stigma, a special discrepancy between virtual and actual social identity, reduces a patient's self-esteem and fosters a feeling of dependence on others for care. Anxiety related to diagnosis and illness creates a situation in which patients cannot productively learn. The stages in acceptance of diagnosis provide a roadmap for understanding a patient's feelings/psychological processes and insight into opportunities to intervene with patient education. The specific disease a patient has effects his ability to learn. Each of these factors is considered with implications described for designing and implementing patient education activities for adults.