Cross‐sectional study on patients' understanding and views of the informed consent procedure of a secondary stroke prevention trial
Background and purpose Improving understanding of study contents and procedures might enhance recruitment into studies and retention during follow‐up. However, data in stroke patients on understanding of the informed consent (IC) procedure are sparse. Methods We conducted a cross‐sectional study amo...
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| Published in: | European journal of neurology Vol. 28; no. 8; pp. 2639 - 2647 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
England
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
01-08-2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Background and purpose
Improving understanding of study contents and procedures might enhance recruitment into studies and retention during follow‐up. However, data in stroke patients on understanding of the informed consent (IC) procedure are sparse.
Methods
We conducted a cross‐sectional study among ischemic stroke patients taking part in the IC procedure of an ongoing cluster‐randomized secondary prevention trial. All aspects of the IC procedure were assessed in an interview using a standardized 20‐item questionnaire. Responses were collected within 72 h after the IC procedure and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Participants were also asked their main reasons for participation.
Results
A total of 146 stroke patients (65 ± 12 years old, 38% female) were enrolled. On average, patients recalled 66.4% (95% confidence interval = 65.2%–67.5%) of the content of the IC procedure. Most patients understood that participation was voluntary (99.3%) and that they had the right to withdraw consent (97.1%); 79.1% of the patients recalled the study duration and 56.1% the goal. Only 40.3% could clearly state a benefit of participation, and 28.8% knew their group allocation. Younger age, higher graduation, and allocation to the intervention group were associated with better understanding. Of all patients, 53% exclusively stated a personal and 22% an altruistic reason for participation.
Conclusions
Whereas understanding of patient rights was high, many patients were unable to recall other important aspects of study content and procedures. Increased attention to older and less educated patients may help to enhance understanding in this patient population. Actual recruitment and retention benefit of an improved IC procedure remains to be tested in a randomized trial.
We conducted a cross‐sectional study among ischemic stroke patients taking part in the inforrmed consent (IC) procedure of an ongoing cluster‐randomized secondary prevention trial. On average, patients recalled 66.4% (95% CI 65.2%‐67.5%) of the content of the IC procedure. Multivariable modelling showed a significant association of age, education, and group allocation with understanding. |
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| Bibliography: | Funding information The authors received no specific funding for this work. SANO receives funding from the Innovationsfonds des Gemeinsamen Bundesausschusses (grant number 01NVF17032). The study design was presented as a poster at the 14th conference of the German Society of Epidemiology in Ulm, Germany, 11–13 September 2019. Presented as an oral presentation at the 6th digital European Stroke Organization Conference, 7–9 November 2020. ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
| ISSN: | 1351-5101 1468-1331 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/ene.14917 |