Stephanie A. Kraft|Melissa L. Constantine|David Magnus|Kevin Porter|Sandra Soo?Jin Lee|Michael J. Green|Nancy E. Kass|Benjamin S. Wilfond|Mildred K. Cho
A randomized study of multimedia informational aids for research on medical practices: Implications for informed consent
Seattle Children's Hospital|University of Minnesota|Stanford University|Seattle Children's Hospital|Stanford University|Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center|Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics|Seattle Children's Hospital|Stanford University
backgroundaims participant understanding key element informed consent enrollment research however participants often understand nature risks benefits design studies take part research medical practices studies standard interventions rather new treatments potential especially confusing participants embedded within usual clinical care objective randomized study compare ability range multimedia informational aids improve participant understanding context research medical practices methods administered webbased survey members proprietary online panel sample selected match national us demographics respondents randomized one five arms four contentequivalent informational aids animated videos slideshows voiceover comics text one nointervention control measured knowledge research medical practices using summary knowledge score 10 questions based content informational aids used analysis variance paired ttests compare knowledge scores arms results 1500 completed surveys 300 arm mean knowledge scores highest slideshows voiceover 657 followed animated videos 627 comics 607 text 572 control 503 differences arms statistically significant except slideshows voiceover animated videos animated videos comics informational aids included audio component animated videos slideshows voiceover higher knowledge scores without audio component 642 vs 590 p lt 0001 difference informational aids characterdriven story component animated videos comics without conclusion results show simple multimedia aids use dualchannel approach voiceover visual reinforcement improve participant knowledge effectively text alone however relatively low knowledge scores suggest targeted informational aids may needed teach particularly challenging concepts nonetheless results demonstrate potential improve informed consent research medical practices using multimedia aids include simplified language visual metaphors