NCT01939925

Communicating Evidence From Systematic Reviews to the Public

Communicating Evidence From Systematic Reviews to the Public: A Randomised Controlled Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 193 (actual)
• Sponsor: Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services · Other Government
• Sex: All
• Age: 16 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of this randomised controlled trial is to compare a new standardised summary format for presentation of synthesised evidence from systematic reviews for the public (a new plain language summary format) to the current format used in Cochrane systematic reviews. The study will evaluate if the new presentation improves understanding about the benefits and harms of an intervention, if it improves the accessibility of the information, and if it is preferred over other versions by the public over the current format.

Conditions

• Adult

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	New plain language summary format	New plain language summary includes qualitative and quantitative description of text (absolute effects and natural frequencies provided); quantitative results provided in a table; quality of the evidence according to GRADE provided in a table; question and answer format; follows principles of linguistic frameworks (e.g. progressive movements from introduction to 'bottom line')
OTHER	Current plain language summary format	Current plain language summary includes qualitative description of effects only; inconsistent description of the quality of the evidence; paragraph of text; inconsistent flow of information

Timeline

• Start date: 2009-05-01
• Primary completion: 2009-10-01
• Completion: 2009-10-01
• First posted: 2013-09-11
• Last updated: 2013-09-11

Locations

5 sites across 5 countries: Argentina, Canada, Italy, Norway, Spain