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OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT03554252

Comparison of Different Frames of Numerical Information in Cochrane Plain Language Summaries

Participants will be randomly given one of two formats containing descriptions of health interventions. In one format, participants will have to read short summaries where results of the intervention are presented as frequencies and the side effects of health intervention are presented as percentages, while in another format the frames will be reversed (results will be presented as percentages and side effects as frequencies). After reading, participants will be asked several questions about the content of the summary and its conclusions.

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Key information

Conditions

Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Behavior

Age range

18 year–99 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University of Split School of Medicine

Split, 21000, Croatia

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients who are visiting their family doctor, and are at least 18 old. Students of biomedical studies at University of Split School of Medicine, who are at least 18 years old.

Exclusion criteria

  • Participants younger than 18 years.

Treatment and study plan

Frequencies

Other

Results are presented as natural frequencies (e.g. the drug was effective for 1 out of 10 people) while side effects are presented as percentages (e.g. 40% participants experienced severe side effects)

Percentages

Other

Results are presented as percentages (e.g. the drug was effective for 10% of people) while side effects are presented as natural frequencies (e.g. 4 out of 10 participants experienced severe side effects)

Primary outcomes

  1. Understanding

    Time frame: 3 months

    Number of the correct answers about the content of the summary, which will consist of four multiple choice questions (with four possible answers where only one is correct, for each question) about the text the participants are reading. Questions will be developed by research team and revised by expert in health communication. The scale ranges from 0-4, where greater score indicates better understanding of the material.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Attitudes towards the appropriateness of this type of presentation of health information

    Time frame: 3 months

    Likert type scale from 1-10 (1 indicating low appropriateness and 10 would be completely appropriate presentation)

  2. Health numeracy

    Time frame: 3 months

    5 questions about the numerical tasks placed in medical content, total score is number of correct answers on those questions. The five questions are part of Numeracy Understanding in Medicine Instrument (Schapira et al, 2012), and we will translate only the questions focusing on Probability section. Cronbach's alpha in previous research was 0.86 (Schapira et al, 2012). The questions will be revised by independent translator and back translated to English. The scale range is from 0-5, where higher score indicates higher numeracy levels.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Split, School of Medicine

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Comparison of Different Frames of Numerical Information in Cochrane Plain Language: Randomized Controlled Trial

Important dates

Study start
2018
Primary completion
2018
Study completion
2018
First posted
Jun 13, 2018
Registry last updated
Sep 25, 2018

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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