BMJ  2006;332 (28 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7535.0-a

Providing study results to participants is complex

The recommendation that study results should be provided to participants requires further evaluation. In a qualitative study of 20 women who participated in a large trial of antibiotics in pregnancy and requested the trial results, Dixon-Wood and colleagues (p 206) found that feedback constitutes an intervention in its own right. Leaflets giving a summary of results may disappoint, or distress, people who wish to be unblinded in the interests of completing their own personal narrative. More needs to be known about appropriate methods for disseminating trial results to participants and about their impact.

Credit: VOISIN/PHANIE/REX

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Receiving a summary of the results of a trial: qualitative study of participants' views

Mary Dixon-Woods, Clare Jackson, Kate C Windridge, and Sara Kenyon
BMJ 2006 332: 206-210. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]