So-called “explainer” animations are increasingly common in clinical trials in the UK according to new research, which suggests a free-to-use library would aid the study sector.
The research – published in the journal Trials – looked at methods used to communicate the specifics of drug trials to participants at 52 registered UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) Clinical Trials Units (CTUs).
And the key finding is that explainer animations are becoming an increasingly popular means of providing study information.
According to the authors a high proportion of the respondents have used explainer animations to provide information to participants about clinical studies, with around 69% of respondents saying they used the approach.
“Explainer animations have the potential to aid understanding of clinical trials. It is reassuring to see over half of the registered academic clinical trials units in the UK are already embracing their potential—either in the core generic concepts that are inherent in most clinical trials or in the specifics of individual trials.”
The team also sought to find out what had prevented sites not using explainers from doing so and concluded that preparation time was a major hurdle.
“We do need to be mindful of sharing good practice within the research community and not ‘reinventing the wheel’ regarding animations that could be shared widely across CTUs—this was echoed in the free text comments from the units.
“There is a definite unmet need for generic freely available animations which promote understanding of key concepts so that trial resources can be allocated to more specific animations for individual trials,” they added.
To that end the authors – researchers from various clinical trials units across Wales and the UK - plan to produce guidance on the process of creating explainer animations with the aim of demystifying the process.
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