Hemophilia in words: an educational crossword puzzle to raise awareness and learn

Abstract

This editorial describes an educational and participatory initiative developed for World Hemophilia Day. Instead of a traditional one-way approach, a contest was organized in which patients, family members, and professionals created an acrostic poem using the word "HEMOPHILIA." Thirty-seven people participated. Content analysis of the submitted acrostics revealed two key dimensions of knowledge and experience with the disease: a clinical-therapeutic dimension (with terms such as "factor VIII," "emicizumab," and "zero bleeding") and a psychosocial-experiential dimension (with concepts such as "family," "pain," "love," and "hemarthrosis"). This dichotomy validates the biopsychosocial model applied to hemophilia and captures the community's internal (emic) perspective. The project's scientific relevance lies in its low-cost, participatory methodology, which serves as a narrative capture device for triangulating perceptions. The final product derived from this analysis was an educational crossword puzzle that integrates both types of terms. This crossword puzzle transcends its recreational function to become a pedagogical tool validated by the community itself, promoting meaningful learning that can improve health literacy and treatment adherence. The authors recommend systematically implementing and evaluating this type of participatory methodology in the design of educational materials, given its potential to generate qualitative evidence applicable to improving clinical practice and patient-centered health policies.