title: Computer-generated patient education materials: do they affect professional practice? A systematic review.
abstract: A systematic search of seven electronic databases was done to identify randomized controlled trials that assessed the effect of computer-generated patient education material (PEM) on professional practice. Three studies met the authors' criteria. All three studies involved preventive care. All used a complex intervention of which computer-generated PEM was a major component. Improvements in practice were seen in all studies, although these gains were generally modest. One study showed improvement in patient outcomes. Mann-Whitney statistics calculated for the studies' outcome measures ranged from 0.48 to 0.66, equivalent to risk differences of -4 to 32 percent. Computer-generated PEM seems to have a small, positive effect on professional practice. The small number of included studies and the complex nature of the interventions makes it difficult to draw conclusions about the ability of computer-generated PEM to change professional practice. Future work should involve well-defined interventions that can be clearly evaluated in terms of effect and cost.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Research, Oslo, Norway. streweek@online.no
authors.forename: Shaun P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Treweek
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Glenton
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Oxman
authors.forename: Alister
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Penrose
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008491:Medical Informatics Applications; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011322:Primary Prevention; D011364:Professional Practice; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric