Instructional Strategies to Improve Informed Consent in Healthcare Research: Pilot Study of Interactivity and Multimedia

• In Event: Instructional Technology SIG: Instructional Design Research: Current and Emerging Trends

Abstract

Informed consent for healthcare research provides a unique learning scenario. To help protect rights of human subjects, improvements should be made to current informed consent processes. This pilot study demonstrates the use of interactivity and multimedia as separate constructs for informed consent learning. Effects of interactivity and multimedia were assessed in an experiment with participants randomly assigned to one of three conditions: paper-based (control), multimedia (no interactivity), and interactive multimedia consent. Multimedia conditions were based on Mayer’s theory of multimedia learning. Interactivity included question-response-feedback interactions after each section. Participants in the interactive multimedia condition learned more than those in the control condition. Although, interactive multimedia took longer than the control, subjects reported that it was shorter and easier.

Authors

• David W. Klein, University of Iowa

• Helen A. Schartz, University of Iowa