Phoebe Koch

Date of Award

3-25-2008

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Medical Doctor (MD)

First Advisor

Richard Antaya

Abstract

This randomized clinical study aimed to compare the efficacy of written handouts with that of audio-visual computerized presentations in educating adolescents about acne vulgaris. The study included 101 adolescent patients, aged 13 to 17 years, presenting to a private dermatology practice or one of three pediatric clinics in New Haven, CT. All participants completed a brief enrollment questionnaire to gauge baseline knowledge about acne vulgaris. Subjects were then randomized to receive either a written handout or an audio-visual computerized presentation. Immediately following the intervention, and again at one month, patients were asked to complete identical questionnaires to assess change in knowledge about acne. The main outcome measure was change in knowledge about acne vulgaris, as indicated by performance on pre-intervention, post-intervention, and one-month follow-up questionnaires. Baseline questionnaires were completed by 21 patients in the pilot study and 80 subjects in the revised study; 17 (80.95%) and 77 (96.25%) completed the respective studies. In both the pilot and revised studies, there was no significant difference between intervention groups in terms of baseline knowledge or gain-in-knowledge. Immediately post- intervention, both groups showed significant improvement from baseline (P<.0001 revised study, P<.01 pilot study). At the one-month follow-up, patients in the pilot study randomized to receive the computerized presentation still showed significant gain in knowledge from baseline (p<.05), while those in the handout group did not. Meanwhile, both intervention groups in the revised study continued to show significant gain in knowledge from baseline at one month (p<.0001). From the above results it appears that both written handouts and audio-visual computerized presentations about acne vulgaris confer significant and equivalent benefits in terms of short- and long-term knowledge gains among adolescent patients with acne.

Comments

This is an Open Access Thesis.

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