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Describing randomisation: patients' and the public's preferences compared with clinicians' practice.

V Jenkins¹, L Leach, L Fallowfield

¹Cancer Research (UK) Psychosocial Oncology Group, Brighton & Susssex Medical School, University of Sussex, Falmer, Sussex BN1 9QG, UK. V.Jenkins@biols.susx.ac.uk

British Journal of Cancer

|October 10, 2002

Summary

Explaining randomisation in clinical trials is challenging. Patients and the public prefer descriptions mentioning computers and chance, or downplaying chance, unlike clinicians.

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Area of Science:

Medical research methodology
Patient communication

Background:

Explaining randomisation in clinical trials to patients is difficult for healthcare professionals.
Effective communication is crucial for informed consent and trial participation.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate patient and public preferences for different descriptions of randomisation.
To compare lay preferences with those of clinicians.

Main Methods:

A questionnaire-based survey was conducted using seven descriptions of randomisation.
Participants included 341 lay people, 200 cancer patients, and 200 oncologists in the UK.

Main Results:

No single description was universally favoured.
Patients and the public preferred explicit mentions of 'computer', 'chance', and 'not the doctor's or patient's decision', or statements downplaying 'chance'.

Related Experiment Videos

Clinicians did not favour the descriptions preferred by patients and the public.

Conclusions:

Communicating randomisation effectively requires understanding patient and public perspectives.
The analogy of 'tossing a coin' was found to be trivialising and upsetting by patients and the public.