Comparing four methods to inform parents about child behavior management: how to inform for consent

One hundred twenty parents were shown descriptions of eight traditional behavior management techniques via one of four different presentation methods: one of two types of video presentation, an oral presentation, or a written presentation. They were asked whether they felt well informed about each technique and asked for consent to perform any one of the techniques that might be needed with their child. Fisher's exact test found that a written explanation resulted in parents who felt well informed significantly less often than those in the other conditions, while an oral presentation resulted in parents who felt well informed more often than those in the other groups, although this difference was not statistically significant. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) found no significant differences between the four conditions with respect to parents providing consent, however, exact tests found the oral method produced significantly better consent for some individual procedures. More than 60% of the parents considered information about each technique to be material or consequential to their decision to consent. Acceptability was correlated with consent, however, more than 10% of the respondents reported incongruencies between consent and acceptability (high approval ratings without subsequent consent or low approval ratings followed by consent). Overall, the oral method of delivering information to parents about child behavior management techniques was the best method of ensuring that the average parent felt informed and was likely to consent.