Parents Reading Comprehension of Their Child's Post-Operative Medicine Fact Sheets

Parents Reading Comprehension of Their Child's Post-Operative Medicine Fact

The objective of this study is to test legal guardians reading comprehension of their child's post-operative medication administration using three different versions of written medication information (standard fact sheets, easy-to-read fact sheets, and easy-to-read fact sheets accompanied by illustrations).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Parents
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: easy to read fact sheets

Detailed Description

It is important for the child's welfare and comfort that the legal guardian can read and comprehend their child's pain medication information. Failure to understand the full implications of the medication may jeopardize the child's comfort level or welfare. Readability of printed education materials is a key to comprehension and supplements what healthcare providers verbally tell the parents/legal guardians. Several studies have demonstrated the benefits of using illustrations to convey intended messages. Simple line drawings appear to do well with those who have low-literacy skills.

The following hypothesis will be tested:

• There is no difference in level of comprehension of medication administration by the legal guardians who receive standard fact sheets about medication, those who receive easy-to-read fact sheets, and those who receive easy-to-read fact sheets accompanied by illustrations.
• There is no difference in level of comprehension of pain assessment by the legal guardians who receive standard fact sheets about assessing pain, those who receive easy-to-read fact sheets, and those who receive easy-to-read facts sheets accompanied by illustrations.
• There is no relationship between legal guardians' satisfaction with medication education and whether they receive standard fact sheets, easy-to-read fact sheets, or those who receive easy-to read fact sheets accompanied by illustrations.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 23
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • Syracuse, New York, United States, 13069
      • SUNY Upstate Medical University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• be 18 years of age or older or an emancipated minor
• ability to see, speak, and hear English
• have a child who will be undergoing surgery
• signed surgical consent form
• have a child staying on hospital pediatric surgical unit after surgery until discharge
• have a child admitted for at least one day but not more than 7 days.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Comprehension of the fact sheets as measured by the Cloze Readability Procedure.	On the day of discharge

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: State University of New York - Upstate Medical University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Sharon Kitchie, PhD, State University of New York - Upstate Medical University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: August 1, 2005
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 1, 2007
• Study Completion (Actual): August 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 12, 2008
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 12, 2008
• First Posted (Estimate): March 20, 2008

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): August 13, 2008
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 12, 2008
• Last Verified: August 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Parents; Patient Education; Patient Education Handout
• Other Study ID Numbers: IRBPHS#5229