The Persuasive Impact of Animation in Health Care Sciences Services: A Rhetoric-Based Literature Study

Abstract

Animation shows excellent potential for application in the digital era. However, it is shown that many animated videos in the healthcare area are low-quality and do not fulfill the intended function. It indicates that animation’s powerful media function is not appropriately used. To investigate the effective use of animation, this paper reviews the literature on animation in the field of Health Care in the Web of Science Core Collection. The study begins by distinguishing animation’s persuasive impact from expressive impact and assumes that the persuasive impact has unique nature that affects the reflection of the audience, which is not systematically explored. Next, the article describes the persuasive impact of animation through inducing from the literature. Then, based on rhetoric, the factors of the persuasive impact of animation are analyzed through a framework of Logos, Ethos, and Pathos. The results include: (1) a clarification of animation’s persuasive impact and its core audience-centered value, and (2) the nature of the influential factors. The factors include: animation shows the potential to convey knowledge and produce positive emotion, and animation in the healthcare area not only functions as an individual video, but also interacts with other elements, such as other media, participants, and the environment; the trustfulness of content is determined by a group of authors, including the animator, the medical expert, and the audience; and the audience is mentally changed after watching, and they are the important condition to achieve the persuasion, so the development of compelling content requires audience-driven. The study concludes that animation in healthcare is made for a persuasive impact. The effectiveness of persuasive impact is closely related to the audience’s condition, requiring the creation concerning related factors. The finding inspires people who make or use animation to understand the purpose and choose an appropriate method clearly.