Information Presentation Formats

Information Presentation Formats and Pursuit of Diagnostic Information

Prevention and early detection of medical problems can greatly reduce health care costs, yet time and again, people avoid or ignore services that could help detect medical problems early enough to prevent or reduce the severity of potential problems. The investigators seek to understand whether the elicitation of symptom admission by patients can predict people's perceived risk of the medical condition and voluntary pursuit of medical information.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Meningioma
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Check Symptoms; Other: Experienced; Other: Uncheck Symptoms; Other: Not Experienced

Detailed Description

We will present individuals with medically accurate information about a medical condition and measure people's perceptions of their own likelihood to having that medical condition. This will include an opportunity for people to pursue more information by directing them to a website that features more information about the condition. The initial information provision will vary slightly in presentation (method of eliciting symptoms will vary), and the rate at which individuals visit the subsequent medical website to receive more information will be recorded as a measure of information seeking behavior. Rates will be compared across symptom elicitation conditions to determine which formats are most effective at encouraging information seeking about health issues. No personally identifying information will be collected, and all results will be reported in aggregate. Critically, no deception will be used: Participants will only be provided with information that is as accurate as possible (given existing knowledge in the health/medical fields).

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 305
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15213
      • Carnegie Mellon University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18 or older
• American

Exclusion Criteria:

• Mechanical Turk approval rate below 95%

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Screening
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Check/Experience; Participants are asked to check the symptoms that they have experienced in the last 6 weeks.	Other: Check Symptoms; Symptoms are "Checked"; Other: Experienced; Focus of instructions is on symptoms the participant has experienced
Experimental: Un-check/Experience; Participants are asked to un-check the symptoms that they have experienced in the last 6 weeks.	Other: Experienced; Focus of instructions is on symptoms the participant has experienced; Other: Uncheck Symptoms; Symptoms are "Un-checked"
Experimental: Check/Not Experienced; Participants are asked to check the symptoms that they have NOT experienced in the last 6 weeks.	Other: Check Symptoms; Symptoms are "Checked"; Other: Not Experienced; Focus of instructions is on symptoms the participant has NOT experienced
Experimental: Un-check/Not Experienced; Participants are asked to un-check the symptoms that they have NOT experienced in the last 6 weeks.	Other: Uncheck Symptoms; Symptoms are "Un-checked"; Other: Not Experienced; Focus of instructions is on symptoms the participant has NOT experienced

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of symptoms	The number of symptoms checked off by participants	1 day
Risk of meningioma	Self-reported perceived risk of meningioma	1 day
Information pursuit	Binary measure of whether participants click to receive information about meningioma	1 day

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Funding allocation	Hypothetical federal funding allocation to meningioma	1 day
Risk of serious disease	Perceived risk of having any serious disease	1 day

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Carnegie Mellon University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Eric M VanEpps, MS, Carnegie Mellon University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: October 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 1, 2016
• Study Completion (Actual): May 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 14, 2014
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 17, 2014
• First Posted (Estimate): October 20, 2014

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): August 2, 2016
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 1, 2016
• Last Verified: August 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Symptom Assessment
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nervous System Diseases; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Neoplasms; Neoplasms by Site; Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue; Central Nervous System Neoplasms; Nervous System Neoplasms; Neoplasms, Vascular Tissue; Meningeal Neoplasms; Meningioma
• Other Study ID Numbers: HS14-574