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Health Education in Improving the Understanding of Medical Information

Randomized Trial of a Primer to Help Patients Understand Risk

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT00387998
Enrollment
555
Registered
2006-10-13
Start date
2004-10-31
Completion date
2005-08-31
Last updated
2013-08-30

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Unspecified Adult Solid Tumor, Protocol Specific

Keywords

unspecified adult solid tumor, protocol specific

Brief summary

RATIONALE: Understanding the risk of disease and prevention and screening activities to lower disease risk may help individuals make informed medical decisions. PURPOSE: This randomized clinical trial is studying how well health education materials help participants understand medical information.

Detailed description

OBJECTIVES: * Compare medical data interpretation skills in participants of low or high socioeconomic status who receive a general education primer (entitled Know Your Chances: Understanding Health Statistics) vs a health education booklet (entitled The Pocket Guide to Good Heath for Adults). OUTLINE: This is a randomized, controlled study. Participants are stratified according to socioeconomic status (low vs high). Participants are randomized to 1 of 2 intervention arms. * Arm I (control): Participants receive a health education booklet entitled The Pocket Guide to Good Health for Adults, published by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, which contains general information about disease risk and reducing risk by following recommended prevention or screening activities. * Arm II (primer): Participants receive a general education primer entitled Know your chances: Understanding health statistics, which teaches how to understand disease risk and the benefits and risks of intervention. Within 2 weeks after receiving the education material, participants in both arms complete a survey, including a medical data interpretation test, STAT-interest, STAT-confidence, and user ratings of the education materials. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 555 participants were accrued for this study.

Interventions

OTHERAHRQ staying healthy booklet

educational booklet about prevention

OTHERRisk primer

Know your chances booklet

Sponsors

National Cancer Institute (NCI)
CollaboratorNIH
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Masking
SINGLE (Investigator)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
35 Years to 79 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: * Meets 1 of the following criteria: * High socioeconomic status * Attended Dartmouth Community Medical School in the past * Low socioeconomic status * Veteran or family member enrolled in a Veteran Affairs clinic PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: * English speaking * No more than 1 participant per household PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: * Not specified

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Ability to interpret medical statistics as measured by a medical data interpretation test2 weeksmedical data interpretation skills

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Interest in interpreting medical statistics, as measured by STAT-interest2 weeksSTAT-interest measure
Confidence in interpreting medical statistics, measured by STAT-confidence2 weeksSTAT-confidence
User ratings of materials2 weeks

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026