547 Application of public health theory to advance the diffusion of plain language summaries (PLS) in clinical research

Objectives/Goals: Diffusion of innovations (DoI) posits that new health-related ideas spread through communities over time and across stages of adoption. We will apply DoI to understand a paradigm shift toward seeing participants as partners in clinical research, specifically through delivery of plain language summaries of results. Methods/Study Population: The return of results in lay language (plain language) to clinical trial participants represents a paradigm shift in the EU and now the USA. We will conduct a systematic review of the implementation of “lay summaries” or “plain language summaries” in different jurisdictions to understand current regulatory influence. We will then review PLS samples and published studies to determine the rate of adoption by industry and non-pharmaceutical company sponsors. Using the DoI framework, groups will be placed in an adopter category. Finally, we will employ an implementation science approach to understand the diffusion process and the translation to participants, laying the groundwork for a culture of change in medical product development. Results/Anticipated Results: Our search on PubMed using key terms “Diffusion of Innovation” and “Plain Language Summary” did not produce any relevant results in the context of clinical trials in the USA, which illustrates a gap in the literature and application of this theory in this context. In the future analyses, we will examine factors influencing the adoption stage and outcomes, such as regulatory action, what best practices have been defined/implemented (if any), culture shifts in the context of clinical research, health communications, and inclusion of patient voices in clinical research. Our analysis will include a network analysis to evaluate characteristics that influence adoption of PLS in clinical research. We hope to identify who is at the forefront of innovation and why. Discussion/Significance of Impact: Novel application of DoI theory will help lay the groundwork for a culture of change in patient-focused drug development, specifically for the dissemination of results to patients. In future studies, we plan to develop a tailored framework for the inclusion of PLS as part of a paradigm shift in the patient-focused drug development process.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Journal of Clinical and Translational Science
Published
2025-03-25
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/cts.2024.1119
Primary Topic
Nutrition, Genetics, and Disease
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

547 Application of public health theory to advance the diffusion of plain language summaries (PLS) in clinical research

Nancy Pire-Smerkanich, Araksi Terteryan
Journal of Clinical and Translational Science
Nutrition, Genetics, and Disease
article

547 Application of public health theory to advance the diffusion of plain language summaries (PLS) in clinical research

Nancy Pire-Smerkanich, Araksi Terteryan
article en

Abstract

Objectives/Goals: Diffusion of innovations (DoI) posits that new health-related ideas spread through communities over time and across stages of adoption. We will apply DoI to understand a paradigm shift toward seeing participants as partners in clinical research, specifically through delivery of plain language summaries of results. Methods/Study Population: The return of results in lay language (plain language) to clinical trial participants represents a paradigm shift in the EU and now the USA. We will conduct a systematic review of the implementation of “lay summaries” or “plain language summaries” in different jurisdictions to understand current regulatory influence. We will then review PLS samples and published studies to determine the rate of adoption by industry and non-pharmaceutical company sponsors. Using the DoI framework, groups will be placed in an adopter category. Finally, we will employ an implementation science approach to understand the diffusion process and the translation to participants, laying the groundwork for a culture of change in medical product development. Results/Anticipated Results: Our search on PubMed using key terms “Diffusion of Innovation” and “Plain Language Summary” did not produce any relevant results in the context of clinical trials in the USA, which illustrates a gap in the literature and application of this theory in this context. In the future analyses, we will examine factors influencing the adoption stage and outcomes, such as regulatory action, what best practices have been defined/implemented (if any), culture shifts in the context of clinical research, health communications, and inclusion of patient voices in clinical research. Our analysis will include a network analysis to evaluate characteristics that influence adoption of PLS in clinical research. We hope to identify who is at the forefront of innovation and why. Discussion/Significance of Impact: Novel application of DoI theory will help lay the groundwork for a culture of change in patient-focused drug development, specifically for the dissemination of results to patients. In future studies, we plan to develop a tailored framework for the inclusion of PLS as part of a paradigm shift in the patient-focused drug development process.

Journal of Clinical and Translational ScienceVol. 9(s1)
University of Southern California (US), California Southern University (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 93%
Nutrition, Genetics, and Disease
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.