Medical ReportingNCT00938938
Testing the Effect of Press Guides on Health Journalists
A study testing Press Guide in people with Medical Reporting, run by White River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Trial summary
The purpose of this study is to test the effect of adding a "press guide" to standard materials that journalists routinely receive regarding research published in medical journals. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Medical Reporting
- What is being tested?
- Press Guide
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 50 participants
- Where
- No sites listed yet
- Study dates
- Jun 2009to Dec 2010
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- All journalists attending the 2009 NIH/Dartmouth/VA Medicine in the Media Symposium will be invited to participate in the study.
- The symposium, which is held annually, is open to journalists across the country and from abroad.
- Participants who are Health Journalists at the Health Journalism 2010 conference will be invited to participate in the study. This annual conference is being held in Chicago, IL at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place During April 22, 2010-April 25, 2010.
Who cannot join
None listed.
About this study
The purpose of this study is to test the effect of adding a "press guide" to standard materials that journalists routinely receive regarding research published in medical journals.
Read the detailed description
The news media has a powerful influence on public perceptions about health and health care; and much of what people -- including many physicians -- know and believe about medicine comes from the print and broadcast media. Several studies, however, have raised questions about how well the press covers medical issues, pointing out errors and omissions in coverage and misleading presentations of statistics. The goal is to help train journalists to better understand and cover medical research, and to help improve communication between journalists and medical journals.
Journalists traditionally write newspaper articles about medical research using information from press releases and the medical journal article's abstract or full text. The objective is to test whether the addition of a 'press guide' (a one-page summary of the study findings) in addition to these other materials improves comprehension of facts about the study article and the overall judgment of the newsworthiness of the study.
- Conditions
- Medical Reporting
- Being tested
- Press Guide
- Keywords
- risk communication, medical reporting, Mass media
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Press GuideOther
The press guide is a 1-page summary of the study findings, written by the investigators.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Press guide plus press release | Experimental | Participants in the intervention group will receive a press guide (a one-page summary of study findings written by the investigators) in addition to the journal's full narrative press release for the selected article, a copy of the article's abstract, and a link to the full text of the journal article. Receives: Other: Press Guide |
| Press release only | No intervention | Participants in the control group will receive the journal's full narrative press release for the selected article, a copy of the article's abstract, and a link to the full text of the journal article. |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Comprehension of facts about the study article (covering study design, exposures, outcome measures, results, limitations, conflicts of interest) assessed using a brief test.
Measured: 0 weeks (assessed during intervention)
Secondary outcomes (1)
Overall judgment of study newsworthiness (e.g., would you argue for/against covering story with editor, how convinced are you of study validity, what headline would you write,and usefulness of press release and (intervention group) press guide.
Measured: 0 weeks (assessed during intervention)
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted14 Jul 2009 (estimated)
- Study startJun 2009
- Primary completionJun 2010 (estimated)
- Study completionDec 2010 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (1)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Medical ReportingStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Investigator
- Enrolment
- 50 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- White River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center
- Sponsor type
- US federal agency
- Collaborators
- National Cancer Institute (NCI)
- Investigators
- Lisa M. Schwartz, MD, MS, Principal investigator, White River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT00938938
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 16782
- Other IDs
- NCI R01CA104721
- Status last verified
- Apr 2010
- First submitted
- 17 Jun 2009
- Last updated
- 21 Apr 2010
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
Publications
Woloshin S, Schwartz LM, Casella SL, Kennedy AT, Larson RJ. Press releases by academic medical centers: not so academic? Ann Intern Med. 2009 May 5;150(9):613-8. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-150-9-200905050-00007.
PubMed 19414840
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 21 Apr 2010. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Testing the Effect of Press Guides on Health Journalists
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT00938938
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 16782
- Conditions
- Medical Reporting
- Keywords
- risk communication, medical reporting, Mass media
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Unknown status
- Enrolment
- 50 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- White River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical CenterUS federal agency
- Collaborators
- National Cancer Institute (NCI)
- Study start
- Jun 2009
- Primary completion
- Jun 2010 (estimated)
- Study completion
- Dec 2010 (estimated)
- First posted
- 14 Jul 2009 (estimated)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The purpose of this study is to test the effect of adding a "press guide" to standard materials that journalists routinely receive regarding research published in medical journals.
Detailed description
The news media has a powerful influence on public perceptions about health and health care; and much of what people -- including many physicians -- know and believe about medicine comes from the print and broadcast media. Several studies, however, have raised questions about how well the press covers medical issues, pointing out errors and omissions in coverage and misleading presentations of statistics. The goal is to help train journalists to better understand and cover medical research, and to help improve communication between journalists and medical journals.
Journalists traditionally write newspaper articles about medical research using information from press releases and the medical journal article's abstract or full text. The objective is to test whether the addition of a 'press guide' (a one-page summary of the study findings) in addition to these other materials improves comprehension of facts about the study article and the overall judgment of the newsworthiness of the study.
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (investigator)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Press guide plus press release | Experimental | Other: Press GuideParticipants in the intervention group will receive a press guide (a one-page summary of study findings written by the investigators) in addition to the journal's full narrative press release for the selected article, a copy of the article's abstract, and a link to the full text of the journal article. |
| Press release only | No intervention | –Participants in the control group will receive the journal's full narrative press release for the selected article, a copy of the article's abstract, and a link to the full text of the journal article. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (3 listed)
- All journalists attending the 2009 NIH/Dartmouth/VA Medicine in the Media Symposium will be invited to participate in the study.
- The symposium, which is held annually, is open to journalists across the country and from abroad.
- Participants who are Health Journalists at the Health Journalism 2010 conference will be invited to participate in the study. This annual conference is being held in Chicago, IL at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place During April 22, 2010-April 25, 2010.
Key exclusion criteria (0 listed)
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Press GuideThe press guide is a 1-page summary of the study findings, written by the investigators. | Other | Press guide plus press release |
Primary outcome
Comprehension of facts about the study article (covering study design, exposures, outcome measures, results, limitations, conflicts of interest) assessed using a brief test.
Time frame: 0 weeks (assessed during intervention)
1 secondary outcome
Overall judgment of study newsworthiness (e.g., would you argue for/against covering story with editor, how convinced are you of study validity, what headline would you write,and usefulness of press release and (intervention group) press guide.
Time frame: 0 weeks (assessed during intervention)
Results and safety
Results are not available in the source record.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 21 Apr 2010.
- Background: PubMed 19414840Woloshin S, Schwartz LM, Casella SL, Kennedy AT, Larson RJ. Press releases by academic medical centers: not so academic? Ann Intern Med. 2009 May 5;150(9):613-8. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-150-9-200905050-00007.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Lisa M. Schwartz, MD, MS principal investigator
White River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Press Guide in people with Medical Reporting, run by White River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 0 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: status not confirmed, as of the sponsor's last update on 21 Apr 2010. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
Results are not available in the source record.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Comprehension of facts about the study article (covering study design, exposures, outcome measures, results, limitations, conflicts of interest) assessed using a brief test. (time frame: 0 weeks (assessed during intervention)). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT00938938, which also lists 1 linked publication.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 21 Apr 2010.