title: Preliminary study of a web-based tool for enhancing the informed consent process in schizophrenia research.
abstract: Printed research consent forms serve to legally document what has been disclosed, but are usually suboptimal as a means of actually communicating that information to potential participants. We conducted a preliminary study of web-based multimedia consent. Participants included 19 patients with schizophrenia and 16 normal comparison (NC) subjects randomly assigned to a routine or web-media consent. Although comprehension among NCs was excellent regardless of consent condition, the web-based consent was associated with better comprehension and satisfaction among patients with schizophrenia. Findings suggest that web-aided multimedia consent is feasible and potentially more effective than printed consent forms in schizophrenia research.
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Diego, Department of Psychiatry, La Jolla, CA 92093‐0993, United States.
authors.forename: Alexandrea L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Harmell
authors.forename: Barton W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: Dilip V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Jeste
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D035843:Biomedical Research; D032882:Comprehension; D032962:Consent Forms; D030881:Disclosure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric