Health Education in Improving the Understanding of Medical Information

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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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
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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.

Official Title
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Randomized Trial of a Primer to Help Patients Understand Risk

Conditions
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Unspecified Adult Solid Tumor, Protocol Specific

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: AHRQ staying healthy booklet
* Other: Risk primer


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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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

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 35 Years
Maximum Age: 79 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Risk primer<br>Booklet written by investigators know your chances | Other: Risk primer<br>* Know your chances booklet<br>* Other names: Know your chances;|
| Active Comparator: Control booklet<br>AHRQ staying healthy booklet | Other: AHRQ staying healthy booklet<br>* educational booklet about prevention<br>* Other names: AHRQ guide to staying healthy;|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Ability to interpret medical statistics as measured by a medical data interpretation test | medical data interpretation skills | 2 weeks | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Interest in interpreting medical statistics, as measured by STAT-interest | STAT-interest measure | 2 weeks | 
| Confidence in interpreting medical statistics, measured by STAT-confidence | STAT-confidence | 2 weeks | 
| User ratings of materials |  | 2 weeks | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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unspecified adult solid tumor, protocol specific