Table 1

Summary Points

What is already known on this topic:

*There has been investigation into the use of narrative and stories as a tool to communicate health information to consumers.

*There are few reports describing the development of narrative or story-based interventions including focus groups involving the end-user group.

What this study adds:

*We followed a systematic process to develop a story-based intervention for parents attending the emergency department for the care of children with an acute, self-limiting condition.

*The parent focus groups provided rich feedback and allowed us to shape our products to ensure accuracy, credibility, and relevance to the end-user.

*Our experience highlights many considerations for future development work in this area, and more broadly for patient education materials, including clear identification of the purpose and goals of the end-product at the outset and involvement of the end-user group throughout to identify needs and preferences.

Hartling et al. BMC Pediatrics 2010 10:64   doi:10.1186/1471-2431-10-64