CAPHRI, School for Public Health and Primary Care, Department of General Practice, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
BMC Public Health. 2012 Jan 4;12:6. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-6.
Self-tests, tests on body materials to detect medical conditions, are widely available to the general public. Self-testing does have advantages as well as disadvantages, and the debate on whether self-testing should be encouraged or rather discouraged is still ongoing. One of the concerns is whether consumers have sufficient knowledge to perform the test and interpret the results. An online decision aid (DA) with information on self-testing in general, and test specific information on cholesterol and diabetes self-testing was developed. The DA aims to provide objective information on these self-tests as well as a decision support tool to weigh the pros and cons of self-testing. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of the online decision aid on knowledge on self-testing, informed choice, ambivalence and psychosocial determinants.
METHODS/DESIGN: A single blind randomised controlled trial in which the online decision aid 'zelftestwijzer' is compared to short, non-interactive information on self-testing in general. The entire trial will be conducted online. Participants will be selected from an existing Internet panel. Consumers who are considering doing a cholesterol or diabetes self-test in the future will be included. Outcome measures will be assessed directly after participants have viewed either the DA or the control condition. Weblog files will be used to record participants' use of the decision aid.
Self-testing does have important pros and cons, and it is important that consumers base their decision whether they want to do a self-test or not on knowledge and personal values. This study is the first to evaluate the effect of an online decision aid for self-testing.
Dutch Trial Register: NTR3149.
自我检测，即通过身体材料检测身体状况的检测方法，已广泛提供给公众。自我检测有其优点和缺点，关于是否应该鼓励还是反对自我检测的争论仍在继续。其中一个关注点是消费者是否有足够的知识来进行测试并解释结果。为此，我们开发了一种在线决策辅助工具（DA），提供有关自我检测的一般信息以及胆固醇和糖尿病自我检测的具体信息。该 DA 的目的是提供有关这些自我检测的客观信息，并提供决策支持工具来权衡自我检测的利弊。本研究旨在评估在线决策辅助工具对自我检测知识、知情选择、犹豫不决和心理社会决定因素的影响。
方法/设计：这是一项单盲随机对照试验，将在线决策辅助工具“zelftestwijzer”与有关自我检测的简短非互动信息进行比较。整个试验将在线进行。参与者将从现有的互联网面板中选择。未来考虑进行胆固醇或糖尿病自我检测的消费者将被纳入。结果将在参与者观看 DA 或对照条件后直接评估。网络日志文件将用于记录参与者对决策辅助工具的使用情况。
自我检测确实有重要的优缺点，重要的是消费者根据自己的知识和个人价值观来决定是否进行自我检测。这项研究是评估自我检测在线决策辅助工具效果的第一项研究。
荷兰试验注册处：NTR3149。
