Randomised controlled trial comparing effectiveness of touch screen system with leaflet for providing women with information on prenatal tests Commentary: Evaluating electronic consumer health material

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Abstract
Objective: To compare the effectiveness of touch screen system with information leaflet for providing women with information on prenatal tests. Design: Randomised controlled trial; participants allocated to intervention group (given access to touch screen and leaflet information) or control group (leaflet information only). Setting: Antenatal clinic in university teaching hospital. Subjects: 875 women booking antenatal care. Interventions: All participants received a leaflet providing information on prenatal tests. Women in the intervention arm also had access to touch screen information system in antenatal clinic. Main outcome measures: Women's informed decision making on prenatal testing as measured by their uptake of and understanding of the purpose of specific tests; their satisfaction with information provided; and their levels of anxiety. Results: All women in the trial had a good baseline knowledge of prenatal tests. Women in the intervention group did not show any greater understanding of the purpose of the tests than control women. However, uptake of detailed anomaly scans was significantly higher in intervention group than the control group (94% (351/375) v 87% (310/358), P=0.0014). Levels of anxiety among nulliparous women in intervention group declined significantly over time (P<0.001). Conclusions: The touch screen seemed to convey no benefit over well prepared leaflets in improving understanding of prenatal tests among the pregnant women. It did, however, seem to reduce levels of anxiety and may be most effective for providing information to selected women who have a relevant adverse history or abnormal results from tests in their current pregnancy. Footnotes Funding The trial was funded by the NHS Executive programme in evaluating methods to promote the implementation of research and development (project No 4-21). Competing interests NH is a non-executive director of Cognetic Creations, which markets the touch screen technology used in the information system. Footnotes website extra: An extra table and figures appear on the BMJ's website www.bmj.com