Table 1 Sample characteristics in a randomized trial comparing blogshots with plain language summaries (n = 238)
Trial | Presentation format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Variables | Blogshot (n = 115) | PLS (n= 123) | ||
Medical students (n = 37) | Patients (n = 78) | Medical students (n = 41) | Patients (n = 82) | |
Women (%) | 29 (78.4) | 52 (66.7)a | 33 (80.5)a | 48 (58.4)a |
Age (Md, IQR) | 21 (20 to 22) | 46 (32 to 62) | 21 (21 to 22) | 51 (37 to 65) |
Education (%) | ||||
Elementary | 0 | 4 (5.1) | 0 | 3 (3.7) |
High school | 0 | 36 (46.2) | 0 | 40 (48.8) |
Currently enrolled in university | 37 (100.0) | 5 (6.4) | 41 (100) | 7 (8.5) |
College graduate | 0 | 11 (14.1) | 0 | 11 (13.4) |
University graduate | 0 | 22 (28.2) | 0 | 20 (24.4) |
PhD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (1.2) |
Information sources (%)b | ||||
Internet | 31 (83.8) | 49 (62.8) | 35 (85.4) | 52 (63.4) |
Family and friends | 8 (21.6) | 29 (37.2) | 10 (24.4) | 30 (36.6) |
Books | 23 (62.2) | 16 (20.5) | 25 (60.9) | 16 (19.5) |
Family doctor | 20 (54.1) | 65 (83.3) | 15 (36.6) | 60 (73.2) |
Internet sources (%)b | ||||
First page provided by Internet search engine | 9 (24.3) | 32 (41.0) | 17 (41.5) | 27 (33.0) |
Forums | 9 (24.3) | 26 (33.3) | 13 (31.7) | 26 (31.7) |
Hospital websites | 10 (27.0) | 10 (12.8) | 7 (17.1) | 12 (14.6) |
Local specialized websites | 19 (51.4) | 17 (21.8) | 22 (53.7) | 25 (30.5) |
International specialized articles | 5 (13.5) | 13 (16.7) | 4 (9.8) | 9 (10.9) |
Scientific articles | 11 (29.7) | 7 (8.9) | 11 (26.8) | 9 (11.0) |
Email to physicians on Internet websites | 1 (2.7) | 2 (2.6) | 2 (4.9) | 1 (1.2) |
Numeracy preference itemc(Md, IQR) | 1 (−2 to 2) | 1 (−1 to 2) | 1 (0 to 2) | 0 (−2 to 3) |
Objective numeracy (Md, IQR)d | 5 (4 to 5) | 3 (3 to 4) | 4 (4 to 5) | 3 (2 to 4) |