A cross-sectional audit of informed consent of online survey: Characteristics and adherence to prevalent guidelines

Bibliographic Details
Title: A cross-sectional audit of informed consent of online survey: Characteristics and adherence to prevalent guidelines
Authors: Himel Mondal, Shaikat Mondal, Sachin Soni
Source: Perspectives in Clinical Research, Vol 14, Iss 3, Pp 123-129 (2023)
Publisher Information: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications, 2023.
Publication Year: 2023
Collection: LCC:Medicine
LCC:Medicine (General)
Subject Terms: biomedical research, consent forms, ethics committees, informed consent, surveys and questionnaires, Medicine, Medicine (General), R5-920
More Details: Background: Research on human participants requires formal approval from a competent ethics committee. During the recruitment of the research participants, obtaining informed consent is a prerequisite. The online survey method is used by many researchers as it can collect the data from a diverse population in a short time. Aim: This study aimed to observe the characteristics and adherence to prevalent guidelines (set by the Indian Council of Medical Research [ICMR]) of informed consent coupled with online surveys. Methods: We collected the informed consent text from online survey links obtained from a network of colleagues who got a request to participate in a survey. Data were collected from July 2020 to June 2022. The text was anonymized for further analysis. The word count, sentences, and Flesch reading ease score were calculated. The adherence to ICMR guidelines where checked by two authors individually and a consensus was reached to prepare the final result. Results: A total of 44 online surveys in English were audited and among them, 10 did not have informed consent. The informed consent in 34 surveys had a median of 6 sentences and 84 words. The median reading ease score was 45.7 (college level). The majority of the consent states the purpose of the research (91.18%), the voluntary nature of the participation (85.29%), and mentioned that it is research (64.71%). However, the rest of the components are ignored by the majority of the survey consent form. Conclusion: Informed consent form with online surveys lacks adherence to the components suggested by ICMR. Hence, the forms should be made carefully by the researchers so that the vigor of informed consent is maintained in the online surveys.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2229-3485
Relation: http://www.picronline.org/article.asp?issn=2229-3485;year=2023;volume=14;issue=3;spage=123;epage=129;aulast=Mondal; https://doaj.org/toc/2229-3485
DOI: 10.4103/picr.picr_175_22
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/6f8d535e57d1470ea6b2c8e76972e0a8
Accession Number: edsdoj.6f8d535e57d1470ea6b2c8e76972e0a8
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:22293485
DOI:10.4103/picr.picr_175_22
Published in:Perspectives in Clinical Research
Language:English