Effect of Presenting Survival Information as Text or Pictograph During Periviable Birth Counseling
Condition: Premature Birth
MeSH terms: Premature Birth
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Women recruited from the internet will be put in a hypothetical situation of being in labor
      at 22 weeks of pregnancy, and presented with information on the likelihood of survival and
      chance of disability for babies born at this gestational age.

      Participants will be randomized to receive this outcome data in one of three formats: as
      text-only, in a static pictograph, or in an iterative pictograph. Participants will also be
      randomized to seeing the chance of survival as 30% or 60%.

      Participants were then asked to choose between comfort care and intensive care in this
      situation. Participants' religiosity, value of the sanctity of life, and health literacy were
      also assessed.
    

Detailed description: 
      A recent study by Kidszun et al. (2020) concluded that for mothers placed in a hypothetical
      situation of choosing between comfort care and intensive care at 22 weeks gestation,
      treatment choice was not influenced by the chance of survival. Specifically, there was no
      difference in treatment choice between moms who were told the baby would have a 30% chance of
      survival and moms who were told the baby would have a 60% chance of survival.

      The study was conducted using a written vignette that included a paragraph on the chance of
      survival and the chance of disability among the survivors.

      In this study, we will adapt the vignette the Kidszun et al. (2020) team used, and provide it
      to an internet-based sample of women. In this vignette, participants will be put in a
      hypothetical situation of being in labor at 22 weeks of pregnancy, provided a description of
      the treatment choices of intensive care or comfort care, and provided data on outcome
      information at this gestational age.

      After reading the vignette, participants will be randomized to view either: a repeat of the
      text information on outcome data, a static pictograph, or an iterative pictograph.
      Participants will also be randomized to seeing the chance of survival as 30% or 60%, making
      this a 2 (chance of survival) x 3 (data presentation format) between-subjects experiment.

      After viewing a repeat of the outcome information, participants will be asked to choose
      between intensive care or comfort care for their hypothetical child. We will also collect
      information on values, religiosity, health literacy, subjective numeracy, a subjective
      probability estimate, and demographics.
    

Intervention name(s): Format of outcome data presentation; Displayed chance of survival
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Outcome data is provided to participants as either text-only, a static pictograph, or an iterative pictograph.; In the outcome data provided to participants, they view either a 30% or 60% chance of survival.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Factorial Assignment
Intervention model description: 2x3 between subjects
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Other
Keywords: decision making; neonatal resuscitation; risk communication; prenatal counseling