Informed consent process in clinical trials: development of a patient-reported questionnaire

Objective: To develop a Spanish-language questionnaire aimed at evaluating patients’ perception of the way they are briefed and their consent is obtained prior to participating in clinical trials. The tool was conceived to evaluate the following aspects: patients’ personal experience, the way th...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Marta Ruiz de Hoyos, Elena Villamañán-Bueno, Emma Fernández de Uzquiano, Pilar Gómez-Salcedo, María Río-Durango, Jesús Frías-Iniesta
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2020-11-01
Series:Farmacia Hospitalaria
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.aulamedica.es/fh/pdf/11430.pdf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1846093634554822656
author Marta Ruiz de Hoyos
Elena Villamañán-Bueno
Emma Fernández de Uzquiano
Pilar Gómez-Salcedo
María Río-Durango
Jesús Frías-Iniesta
author_facet Marta Ruiz de Hoyos
Elena Villamañán-Bueno
Emma Fernández de Uzquiano
Pilar Gómez-Salcedo
María Río-Durango
Jesús Frías-Iniesta
author_sort Marta Ruiz de Hoyos
collection DOAJ
description Objective: To develop a Spanish-language questionnaire aimed at evaluating patients’ perception of the way they are briefed and their consent is obtained prior to participating in clinical trials. The tool was conceived to evaluate the following aspects: patients’ personal experience, the way the informed consent process was implemented in practice, patients’ level of satisfaction with the process, and their level of understanding of the study itself. Method: This study looked into the development, adaptation and validation of a self-administered questionnaire intended to evaluate the informed consent process on the basis of information provided by respondents. The steps followed included: literature review, generation of an items pool, drawing up of the questionnaire, expert review, piloting, and reading ease optimization and analysis. A commonly-used English- language questionnaire was evaluated, translated into Spanish and adapted so as to determine the extent to which subjects understood the information conveyed to them. Results: In its final version, the questionnaire came to comprise four sections intended to evaluate: 1) socio-demographic data; 2) practical aspects related with the development of the informed consent process; 3) patients’ perception of the process (satisfaction, expectations and motivations); and 4) their level of understanding. Understanding was gaged using the QuIC questionnaire, translated by three bilingual translators. Additional questions were included to evaluate the understanding of concepts related with blinding and therapeutic misconception. The validity of the contents was evaluated by consulting with an expert panel. The reading ease analysis yielded an IFSZ score of 64.34, equivalent to an “average difficulty” grade on the Inflesz scale. In the pilot study, interviews were held with 32 patients, who did not appear to have any difficulties in understanding the questions asked of them or in using Likert-type scales to respond. Mean completion time was 16.6 minutes. Conclusions: The tool developed as part of this study has shown itself capable of providing an understanding and an assessment of the informed consent process from the perspective of a patient who is invited to participate in a clinical trial. Implementation of the questionnaire could help investigators ascertain that the process has been correctly executed and identify specific aspects that may require to be changed or optimized.
format Article
id doaj-art-471570bf743343e39bf0d2b9a2eb6a84
institution Kabale University
issn 1130-6343
2171-8695
language English
publishDate 2020-11-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Farmacia Hospitalaria
spelling doaj-art-471570bf743343e39bf0d2b9a2eb6a842025-01-02T16:48:25ZengElsevierFarmacia Hospitalaria1130-63432171-86952020-11-0144625427110.7399/fh.11430Informed consent process in clinical trials: development of a patient-reported questionnaireMarta Ruiz de Hoyos0Elena Villamañán-Bueno1Emma Fernández de Uzquiano2Pilar Gómez-Salcedo3María Río-Durango4Jesús Frías-Iniesta5Pharmacy Department, Hospital Hestia Madrid, Madrid. Spain.Pharmacy Department, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid. Spain.CEIm Technical Secretariat, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid. Spain.CEIm Technical Secretariat, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid. Spain.Pharmacy Department, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid. Spain.School of Medicine, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid. Spain.Objective: To develop a Spanish-language questionnaire aimed at evaluating patients’ perception of the way they are briefed and their consent is obtained prior to participating in clinical trials. The tool was conceived to evaluate the following aspects: patients’ personal experience, the way the informed consent process was implemented in practice, patients’ level of satisfaction with the process, and their level of understanding of the study itself. Method: This study looked into the development, adaptation and validation of a self-administered questionnaire intended to evaluate the informed consent process on the basis of information provided by respondents. The steps followed included: literature review, generation of an items pool, drawing up of the questionnaire, expert review, piloting, and reading ease optimization and analysis. A commonly-used English- language questionnaire was evaluated, translated into Spanish and adapted so as to determine the extent to which subjects understood the information conveyed to them. Results: In its final version, the questionnaire came to comprise four sections intended to evaluate: 1) socio-demographic data; 2) practical aspects related with the development of the informed consent process; 3) patients’ perception of the process (satisfaction, expectations and motivations); and 4) their level of understanding. Understanding was gaged using the QuIC questionnaire, translated by three bilingual translators. Additional questions were included to evaluate the understanding of concepts related with blinding and therapeutic misconception. The validity of the contents was evaluated by consulting with an expert panel. The reading ease analysis yielded an IFSZ score of 64.34, equivalent to an “average difficulty” grade on the Inflesz scale. In the pilot study, interviews were held with 32 patients, who did not appear to have any difficulties in understanding the questions asked of them or in using Likert-type scales to respond. Mean completion time was 16.6 minutes. Conclusions: The tool developed as part of this study has shown itself capable of providing an understanding and an assessment of the informed consent process from the perspective of a patient who is invited to participate in a clinical trial. Implementation of the questionnaire could help investigators ascertain that the process has been correctly executed and identify specific aspects that may require to be changed or optimized.http://www.aulamedica.es/fh/pdf/11430.pdfinformed consentclinical trials as topicpatient satisfactioncomprehensiondecision makingsurveys and questionnairesvalidation study
spellingShingle Marta Ruiz de Hoyos
Elena Villamañán-Bueno
Emma Fernández de Uzquiano
Pilar Gómez-Salcedo
María Río-Durango
Jesús Frías-Iniesta
Informed consent process in clinical trials: development of a patient-reported questionnaire
Farmacia Hospitalaria
informed consent
clinical trials as topic
patient satisfaction
comprehension
decision making
surveys and questionnaires
validation study
title Informed consent process in clinical trials: development of a patient-reported questionnaire
title_full Informed consent process in clinical trials: development of a patient-reported questionnaire
title_fullStr Informed consent process in clinical trials: development of a patient-reported questionnaire
title_full_unstemmed Informed consent process in clinical trials: development of a patient-reported questionnaire
title_short Informed consent process in clinical trials: development of a patient-reported questionnaire
title_sort informed consent process in clinical trials development of a patient reported questionnaire
topic informed consent
clinical trials as topic
patient satisfaction
comprehension
decision making
surveys and questionnaires
validation study
url http://www.aulamedica.es/fh/pdf/11430.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT martaruizdehoyos informedconsentprocessinclinicaltrialsdevelopmentofapatientreportedquestionnaire
AT elenavillamananbueno informedconsentprocessinclinicaltrialsdevelopmentofapatientreportedquestionnaire
AT emmafernandezdeuzquiano informedconsentprocessinclinicaltrialsdevelopmentofapatientreportedquestionnaire
AT pilargomezsalcedo informedconsentprocessinclinicaltrialsdevelopmentofapatientreportedquestionnaire
AT mariariodurango informedconsentprocessinclinicaltrialsdevelopmentofapatientreportedquestionnaire
AT jesusfriasiniesta informedconsentprocessinclinicaltrialsdevelopmentofapatientreportedquestionnaire