Clinical trial NCT02548312: The Effect of Different Financial Competing Interest Statements on Readers' Perceptions of Clinical Educational Articles
Official title: Randomised Controlled Trial to Measure the Effect of Different Financial Competing Interest Statements on Readers' Perceptions of Clinical Educational Articles
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Healthy
Keywords: Readers' perceptions
Lead sponsor: The BMJ
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2015-09-14
Enrollment: 1065
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: Financial ties with industry are common among doctors, academics and institutions. This trial aims to investigate the influence of different types of industry-linked activities on readers' perceptions of clinical reviews. Two clinical reviews have been selected on medical topics and study participants (practicing doctors) will be sent one review each. The reviews will be identical except for the inclusion of one of four different permutations of competing interest statements. Participants will be asked to rate the one review they are sent based on the study outcomes (confidence, interest, importance and likeliness to change practice). The study focus is on educational articles as these are intended to guide patient care and convey the authors' interpretation of selected data.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Practising doctors in the UK who are members of the British Medical Association (BMA) and receive The BMJ will be included.

Exclusion Criteria:

* BMA members who have opted out of receiving a free copy of The BMJ, public health doctors, consultant oral/dental surgeons, consultants in private practice, retired doctors and student members will be excluded.

Primary outcomes:
measure: The Readers' Level of Confidence in the Conclusions Drawn in the Article.
timeFrame: Outcome measure will be assessed only at the time of the intervention (0 weeks). Readers will be asked to complete the study questionnaire immediately after reading the review article.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Importance of the Article.
timeFrame: Outcome measure will be assessed only at the time of the intervention (0 weeks)
measure: Interest in the Article.
timeFrame: Outcome measure will be assessed only at the time of the intervention (0 weeks)
measure: Number of Participants Who Are Extremely Likely to Change Practice on the Basis of the Article (Scored a "10"), for Those Currently Treating the Relevant Condition
timeFrame: Outcome measure will be assessed only at the time of the intervention (0 weeks)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
affiliation: The BMJ
name: Sara Schroter, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Schroter S, Pakpoor J, Morris J, Chew M, Godlee F. Effect of different financial competing interest statements on readers' perceptions of clinical educational articles: a randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open. 2019 Feb 19;9(2):e025029. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025029.
citation: Schroter S, Pakpoor J, Morris J, Chew M, Godlee F. Effect of different financial competing interest statements on readers' perceptions of clinical educational articles: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open. 2016 Jun 10;6(6):e012677. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012677.