[Survey for participation in therapeutic trials in psychiatry]

In collaboration with the Sofres Institute, a two-phase population survey was conducted in 1991. During the first phase, 10,000 households representative of the French population and regularly surveyed by the Sofres Institute answered five questions by mail. The purpose was to identify subgroups regularly receiving psychotropic drugs and followed up by a physician. They were identified according to whether they used any of some 30 neuroleptic and antidepressant drugs, the most frequently prescribed in their class. According to their answers returned by post, the subjects were classified into three groups: regular psychotropic drug users followed by general practitioners, regular psychotropic drug users followed by specialists (these subjects being considered possibly more severely ill), and non users of these drugs, subjects considered as controls. In the second phase, a random sample of these groups received a detailed questionnaire including 14 questions related to clinical trials. In addition the same questionnaire was given to hospitalised patients in three different psychiatric units. Out of total of 958 subjects who received the detailed questionnaire, 712 answered (a 74% response rate). Results indicate that a majority of the subjects (50% to 74% depending on the subgroups) have already heard about the need for clinical trials to test new drugs. However, less than 20% of these subjects are aware of a recent French law protecting patient rights in clinical trials. This awareness appears to be quite insufficient A large number of subjects do not know whether they have been part of a clinical trial in the past.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)