Impact of an educational video as a consent tool on knowledge about cure research among patients and caregivers at HIV clinics in South Africa

Melany Hendricks; Gonasagrie Nair; Ciara Staunton; Michael Pather; Nigel Garrett; Dianno Baadjies; Martin Kidd; Keymanthri Moodley

Impact of an educational video as a consent tool on knowledge about cure research among patients and caregivers at HIV clinics in South Africa

J Virus Erad. 2018 Apr 1;4(2):103-107.

Authors

Melany Hendricks¹, Gonasagrie Nair, Ciara Staunton¹, Michael Pather², Nigel Garrett³, Dianno Baadjies¹, Martin Kidd⁴, Keymanthri Moodley¹

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Medical Ethics and Law, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
² Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care and Department of Statistics, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
³ Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
⁴ Department of Statistics, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

PMID: 29682302
PMCID: PMC5892680

Abstract

Background: Despite increasing access to antiretroviral therapy in low- and middle-income countries, only 54% of eligible individuals were receiving treatment in Africa by 2015. Recent developments in HIV cure research have been encouraging. However, the complex science and procedures of cure research render the informed consent process challenging.

Objective: This study evaluates the impact of a video tool on educating participants about HIV cure.

Methods: A questionnaire assessing the content of the video was administered to adults recruited from two clinics in South Africa. Patients and their care partners, who provided voluntary informed consent, were included in the study. The questionnaire was administered in each participant's home language before, immediately after and at 3 months after viewing the video, in an uncontrolled quasi-experimental 'one group pre-test-post-test' design. Scoring was carried out according to a predetermined scoring grid, with a maximum score of 22.

Results: A total of 88 participants, median age 32.0 years and 86% female, were enrolled and completed the pre- and post-video questionnaires. Twenty-nine (33%) completed the follow-up questionnaire 3 months later to assess retention of knowledge. Sixty-three (72%) participants had a known HIV-positive status. A significant increase (10.1 vs 15.1, P=0.001) in knowledge about HIV and HIV cure immediately after viewing the video was noted. No statistically significant difference in knowledge between HIV-positive and -negative patients was noted at baseline. After 3 months, a decrease in performance participation (14 vs 13.5, P=0.19) was noted. However, knowledge scores achieved after 3 months remained significantly higher than scores at baseline (13.5 vs 9.5, P<0.01).

Conclusions: This research showed that a video intervention improved participants' knowledge related to HIV, HIV cure research and ethics, and the improvement was sustained over 3 months. Video intervention may be a useful tool to add to the consent process when dealing with complex medical research questions.

Keywords: HIV cure research, video, informed consent.

Publication types

Editorial