Comprehension of informed consent information by young-old through old-old volunteers

Comprehension of typewritten informed consent information was evaluated for young-old (60-69 years) through old-old (80-89 years) volunteers as a function of years of education (< 12, 12, and > 12), readability of information (low [college level] vs high [7th grade]), and typeface used in the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Experimental aging research 1987-12, Vol.13 (4), p.173-178
Main Authors: Taub, Harvey A., Baker, Marilyn T., Kline, Gary E., Sturr, Joseph F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Bioethics
Comprehension
Consent Forms
Educational Status
Female
Humans
Informed Consent
Male
Middle Aged
Printing
Reading
Research Subjects
Visual Acuity
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Comprehension of typewritten informed consent information was evaluated for young-old (60-69 years) through old-old (80-89 years) volunteers as a function of years of education (< 12, 12, and > 12), readability of information (low [college level] vs high [7th grade]), and typeface used in the preparation of the materials (Prestige Elite 72, Letter Gothic, and Orator). All volunteers (N = 235) read a typewritten information sheet and retained it for review while answering eight multiple choice questions. Immediate feedback was provided, and a second test was administered if any answers were incorrect. The findings indicated that comprehension varied directly with education and inversely with age. Typeface and age interacted due to age-related differences with the two smaller (Prestige Elite and Letter Gothic), but not with the largest of the typefaces (Orator). These findings suggest that the observed age-related differences may have been due to visual and not cognitive deficits. Readability did not affect performance either by itself or in combination with any other variable.
ISSN:0361-073X
1096-4657
DOI:10.1080/03610738708259321