At the end of 2022, three UKCRC registered CTUs led by Oxford Clinical Trials Research Unit (OCTRU) received funding from the NIHR Efficient Clinical Trials Call for the EXPLAIN initiative (https://explain.octru.ox.ac.uk/).
The EXPLAIN initiative was funded around the topic of Animated Explainer Videos (AEVs) - short videos/animations (up to 2 minutes) which can be used to help individuals understand more about taking part in a trial.
The EXPLAIN initiative funded the production of 3 AEVs on generic clinical trial topics in multiple languages to be made available free of charge to all CTUs across the network. Through a modified Delphi survey, the EXPLAIN team also asked key trial stakeholders (including patients, site staff and CTU staff trial) to rate generic trial topics which they thought would be useful to be produced into AEVs.
The Delphi resulted in the creation of 3 AEVs, co-produced with patient partners who participated in the survey: What is informed consent? What is randomisation? and Safety in clinical studies. All 3 AEVs are available in English, Welsh, Romanian, Polish, Panjabi and what we think might be the first time usage for such AEVs, in British Sign Language. All are also available with subtitles in each of the languages.
To view the English versions of the animations please visit https://explain.octru.ox.ac.uk/animations.html and to request copies for any of your trials or CTU websites please complete the request form on that page.
The team will be looking at the usage of the animations – collecting metrics of their access and will also use a short questionnaire 12 months after creating individual links to each AEV to assess the usage and trial teams comments on the value of each AEV on their trial.