Short-Form Video Informed Consent Compared With Written Consent for Adolescents and Young Adults: Randomized...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Behavioral Science
• Digital Health

Background:

• Adolescents and young adults exhibit high rates of e-cigarette use (vaping).
• Recruiting this demographic for health research presents challenges.
• Traditional informed consent methods may not resonate with younger populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a short-form (90-second) video consent.
• To compare video consent against standard written consent for a vaping cessation study.
• To assess comprehension, satisfaction, and willingness to participate in research among adolescents and young adults.

Main Methods:

• A web-based experiment involving 435 participants aged 13-24.
• Random assignment to either short-form video consent or written consent.
• Postexposure survey measuring comprehension, satisfaction, and willingness to participate.

Main Results:

• Video consent group showed higher satisfaction (83.2%) compared to written consent (76.3%).
• No significant difference in overall comprehension, but video excelled in risk/privacy understanding.
• Participants in the video group completed the process faster (4.5 mins vs. 5.1 mins).

Conclusions:

• Short-form video consent is a viable and acceptable alternative for adolescent research.
• Video and written consent have complementary strengths in information delivery.
• Short-form videos align with youth media consumption habits, enhancing research participation.