Preferences and Attitudes Towards Digital Communication and Symptom Reporting Methods in Clinical Trials

With the growing use of digital health technologies (DHT) in clinical trials, the opportunity to use technology to promote greater patient centricity and inclusivity has emerged. Current technology provides various mechanisms for communication, eg, through voice or text, however, participant familiarity and preference for them is poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to understand participants' communication preferences, their comfort with and use of messaging methods and their attitudes towards different communication and technology-driven symptom reporting methods in clinical trials.

Fifty-five participants, with any form of chronic health condition or recent intervention causing daily pain or discomfort were recruited by way of convenience sample for a single-centre, non-interventional, single-visit study, conducted in Ireland. Participants completed a questionnaire on communications preferences via an app on the participants' own electronic device.

In communication with friends and family, 69.6% of participants most preferred to use a messaging service. In communication with their healthcare provider, 72.7% preferred phone calls. Respondents preferred to communicate with friends/family via text messages (80.4%) over other methods. In clinical trial settings, participants are willing to use messaging methods to communicate with their physician. When reporting symptoms, most preferred a phone/video call to physicians (50.9%) and touch screen on device/smartphone (47.3%). 72.7% preferred to report symptoms using their own phone. Some respondents were interested in having the device read the questions/answers aloud (36.4%) and answer questions verbally (41.8%).

Participants were familiar with various communication methods but showed different preferences to communicate with friends and family versus healthcare professionals. For reporting symptoms in a clinical trial while at home, split results suggested a preference for independent reporting as well as live communication with physician, perhaps reflecting the rising use of telehealth. Further exploration is needed for the use of questions read aloud or answered verbally when reporting symptoms in a clinical trial.