Abstract
Background
Despite the importance of statistical and numerical aspects in key decisions related to clinical trials and their impact in patient’s care, patient and public involvement remains underdeveloped in this field. Communication is a barrier to enable successful involvement of patients and the public in numerical aspects. Treatment important differences, a crucial numerical aspect in trials, is considered a priority for patient and public involvement. Creative methods have been proposed to improve communication of technical concepts with members of the public; and to democratise and improve inclusivity in patient and public involvement in health research.
Methods
Working with creative professionals, public partners, and statisticians, we aimed to develop, pilot
and implement creative workshops to promote a shared understanding of treatment important differences; and co-develop creative prototypes that could be used to communicate the statistical concept to a wider audience
in the future. Three 2 to 4 h creative workshops based in the UK, were delivered. The first two workshops included 22 participants. They were online and worked as pilots to refine the final in-person workshop via participant feedback and discussion. The final workshop focused on treatment important differences, and we collected information from participants on expectations, subjective numeracy, and experience.
Results The final workshop included 13 participants (5 creative professionals, 4 public partners, and 4 clinical trial statisticians). Participants reported creative workshops helped improve communication of treatment important differences between stakeholders reaching a common understanding of their meaning; and helped democratise knowledge exchange. Each group developed a creative prototype to communicate about treatment important differences
with a wider audience, including a song, game, and a cartoon. Participants recommended the format to improve communication of other statistical or complex concepts between stakeholders.
Conclusions
Creative workshops can promote shared understanding of complex, statistical concepts and co-development of creative outputs amongst stakeholders. Future work should explore generalisability of the intervention, and what outcomes might be important to consider when implementing creative workshops in patient and public
involvement practice.
Despite the importance of statistical and numerical aspects in key decisions related to clinical trials and their impact in patient’s care, patient and public involvement remains underdeveloped in this field. Communication is a barrier to enable successful involvement of patients and the public in numerical aspects. Treatment important differences, a crucial numerical aspect in trials, is considered a priority for patient and public involvement. Creative methods have been proposed to improve communication of technical concepts with members of the public; and to democratise and improve inclusivity in patient and public involvement in health research.
Methods
Working with creative professionals, public partners, and statisticians, we aimed to develop, pilot
and implement creative workshops to promote a shared understanding of treatment important differences; and co-develop creative prototypes that could be used to communicate the statistical concept to a wider audience
in the future. Three 2 to 4 h creative workshops based in the UK, were delivered. The first two workshops included 22 participants. They were online and worked as pilots to refine the final in-person workshop via participant feedback and discussion. The final workshop focused on treatment important differences, and we collected information from participants on expectations, subjective numeracy, and experience.
Results The final workshop included 13 participants (5 creative professionals, 4 public partners, and 4 clinical trial statisticians). Participants reported creative workshops helped improve communication of treatment important differences between stakeholders reaching a common understanding of their meaning; and helped democratise knowledge exchange. Each group developed a creative prototype to communicate about treatment important differences
with a wider audience, including a song, game, and a cartoon. Participants recommended the format to improve communication of other statistical or complex concepts between stakeholders.
Conclusions
Creative workshops can promote shared understanding of complex, statistical concepts and co-development of creative outputs amongst stakeholders. Future work should explore generalisability of the intervention, and what outcomes might be important to consider when implementing creative workshops in patient and public
involvement practice.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 32 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Research Involvement and Engagement |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 20 Mar 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 20 Mar 2024 |
Bibliographical note
AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank workshop attendees: Sian Bevan, Richard Caie, Robert
Cain, Graeme Clark, Suzie Cro, Heather Doran, Peter Flockhart, Sarah Gallagher,
Sophie Greenwood, Brennan Kahan, Lynn Laidlaw, Carrol Lamouline, Sarah
Markham, Marie McDevitt, Jen McGregor, David Mclernon, Tim Morris, Akshaykumar Patel, Linda Parton, Craig Ramsay, Kara-Louise Royle, Irene Soulsby, Nikki Totton, Irene Soulsby, Derek Stewart, Lisa Wilson, Roger Wilson. We would also like to thank Chris Redford at Nifty Fox for his visual work in the final workshop
Funding
This project was funded by the Institutional Support Seed Funding from the
Wellcome Trust at the University of Aberdeen and the MRC/NIHR Trials Methodology Research Partnership grant TMRP/WG 12.
Access to Document
- Goulao_etal_RIW_The_Power_Imbalance_VoR
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