Evaluation of CTRL: a web application for dynamic consent and engagement with individuals involved in a...

There has been keen interest in whether dynamic consent should be used in health research but few real-world studies have evaluated its use. Australian Genomics piloted and evaluated CTRL ('control'), a digital consent tool incorporating granular, dynamic decision-making and communication for genomic research. Individuals from a Cardiovascular Genetic Disorders Flagship were invited in person (prospective cohort) or by email (retrospective cohort) to register for CTRL after initial study recruitment. Demographics, consent choices, experience surveys and website analytics were analysed using descriptive statistics. Ninety-one individuals registered to CTRL (15.5% of the prospective cohort and 11.8% of the retrospective cohort). Significantly more males than females registered when invited retrospectively, but there was no difference in age, gender, or education level between those who did and did not use CTRL. Variation in individual consent choices about secondary data use and return of results supports the desirability of providing granular consent options. Robust conclusions were not drawn from satisfaction, trust, decision regret and knowledge outcome measures: differences between CTRL and non-CTRL cohorts did not emerge. Analytics indicate CTRL is acceptable, although underutilised. This is one of the first studies evaluating uptake and decision making using online consent tools and will inform refinement of future designs.