Analysis of Governmental’s Video Productions on COVID-19 for People with Disabilities from the Cognitive Multimedia Learning Theory Perspective

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The pandemic of COVID-19 imposed the elaboration and dissemination of content about protection and prevention of the disease for different audiences. Objective: Analyze videos released by government institutions related to COVID-19 protection and prevention for people with disabilities (PWD) in light of Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML). Methods: Documentary research, carried out on the official websites of the governmental spheres of Brazil and on the YouTube video sharing platform. Results: Identified 33 videos produced in 2020 and their contents presented understandable language, clear and varied colors, devoid of figures or animations. Of these, 29 videos included the Libras interpreter and one used audio description of the images. Two categories were identified Protective Measures of COVID-19 in PWD and Preventive Measures of COVID-19 in PWD. According to the principles of the Theory it was observed adequacy in the conveying of information on the protective measures regarding the principles of coherence, signaling, spatial and temporal contiguity, pre-training, modality, multimedia and customization in the language on individual and collective protection measures, educational inclusion and accessibility to rehabilitation assistance by telehealth. In the preventive measures, the principles of multimedia, personalization, voice, image, signaling, and personalization are attended to, as hand washing, respiratory etiquette, correct use of the face mask and with lip visor, facing COVID-19 for intellectual PWD, hygiene of support equipment, and protocols used in inclusive residences were explained. Conclusions: The principles of CTML contributed satisfactorily to the visual materials published about COVID-19 for PWD, however, this communication modality needs a greater reach to the interested public. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.