The Patients Have Spoken: 75% of Participants Completed a Satisfaction Survey Modeled After the SPFQ in a Decentralized Clinical Trial
Featured Solution: Study Participant Feedback Questionnaire
During the Covid-19 pandemic, a clinical trial in Canada deployed a survey modeled after the SPFQ created by the Patient Experience Initiative. Below are two excerpts regarding how this clinical study used its survey to understand participants’ feedback about some aspects of a decentralized trial. Overall, participants had positive feedback about the trial and its use of decentralized study procedures. The survey feedback has helped the study team understand how it can improve decentralized research studies in the future. Check out the peer-reviewed article to learn more.
Use of the SPFQ
“The participant feedback survey was modelled after the ‘Study Participant Feedback Questionnaire Toolkit’ created by TransCelerate Biopharma and included questions related to each phase of the STOPCoV study and the rapid antigen test sub-study, including recruitment, consent process, study procedure, digital platform and interaction with the study team. The questions were designed to be answered on a 5-point Likert scale. After an initial set of questions was developed, 3 members of our research team met in person to determine by consensus which questions should be included and to ensure they were comprehensive and clear. A final set of 42 questions that could be answered in under 15 minutes was formed and tested with three non-study participants in the same age range as our participants to obtain feedback on clarity and ease of use…The survey was reviewed and approved by the University Health Network Research Ethics Board.”
Impact of the Trial Survey
“The overall feedback was positive with over 90% of respondents answering that the website was easy to use. Despite the age gap, both the older cohort and younger cohort reported ease of performing study activities through a personal electronic device. Only 30% of the participants had previously participated in a clinical trial, however over 90% agreed that they would be willing to participate in future clinical research. Some difficulties were noted in refreshing the browser whenever updates to the website were made. The feedback attained will be used to improve current processes and procedures of the STOPCoV trial as well as share learning experiences to inform future fully decentralized research studies.“
Citation:
Ravindran R, Szadkowski L, Lovblom LE, Clarke R, Huang QW, Manase D, et al. (2023) Decentralized study of COVID Vaccine Antibody Response (STOPCoV): Results of a participant satisfaction survey. PLOS Digit Health 2(5): e0000242. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000242
