NCT03381911

ECA vs E-Document Explanation

Embodied Conversational Agent as Consent Advocate Compared to E-Consent Administration

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 35 (actual)
• Sponsor: Boston Medical Center · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 21 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This study will investigate how consent forms and other health care documents are explained to patients. The findings will be used to create a computer program that can successfully explain consent and other health-related forms to individuals who have difficulty reading and understanding consent forms on their own as a supplement to the normal consent process done in research settings. In a prior study, the investigators delivered a similar protocol, where subjects were first consented and then given a mock consent form (administered in 1 of 3 arms: RA, ECA, or ECA + RA). Subjects in this protocol struggled with the concept of a "mock" consent process, especially after they had just completed a consent process for the study itself. The current protocol, using deception research methods, aims to provide a more pure assessment of ECA consent vs the standard (here, E-consent) by waiving consent and delivering the sham consent as if it were reality. In the context of a protocol that employs deception methods, participants in the current study would be invited as healthy volunteers, and be randomized to 1 of 2 different consent processes to evaluate the relative benefits of different approaches for informed consent. After the knowledge tests have been completed, subjects will undergo a debriefing where they are made fully aware of the deception and its purpose. At that time, subjects will also be given the opportunity to "opt out" and not have their data included in the study results.

Detailed description

Participants who call in response to the clinic flyers will first confirm eligibility criteria of age (≥21) and language (able to complete a study visit in English). Once eligibility is confirmed, participants will be scheduled to come to BMC for a single study visit that will take approximately 60-90 minutes. Randomization to one study arm or the other will occur when subject arrives for appointment. The following activities will occur at a single study visit: 1. administer sham consent (via e-consent or ECA per randomization result) 2. knowledge test 3. data collection 1. socio-demographics 2. health literacy assessment (REALM) 3. ECA satisfaction (for ECA arm subjects only) 4. Emotional connection (adapted PROMIS) (for ECA arm subjects only) 4. Debriefing 1. Describe true study aims 2. Opt out option (subject can request that their data not be used)

Conditions

• Literacy
• Information Disclosure

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Embodied Conversational Agent	The Embodied Conversational Agent (ECA) is a computer generated character that can interact with study subjects through a touch screen computer. The ECA is programmed to respond with relevant speech and body language to a subject's responses.

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-01-04
• Primary completion: 2018-04-18
• Completion: 2018-04-18
• First posted: 2017-12-22
• Last updated: 2018-07-12

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States