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Educating adolescents about acne vulgaris: a comparison of written handouts with audiovisual computerized presentations.

Koch PE, Ryder HF, Dziura J, Njike V, Antaya RJ

Department of Dermatology, Yale University School of Medicine, PO Box 208059, New Haven, CT 06520-8059, USA.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of written handouts with that of audiovisual computerized presentations in educating adolescents about acne vulgaris. DESIGN: Randomized study. SETTING: A private dermatology office or 1 of 3 general pediatric clinics in New Haven. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred one adolescent patients, aged 13 to 17 years. Intervention All participants completed a brief enrollment questionnaire to gauge baseline knowledge of acne vulgaris. Subjects were then randomized to either receive a written handout or watch an audiovisual computerized presentation. Immediately following the intervention, and again at 1 month, patients were asked to complete identical questionnaires to assess change in knowledge. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Change in knowledge about acne vulgaris, as indicated by performance on preintervention, postintervention, and 1-month follow-up questionnaires. RESULTS: Baseline questionnaires were completed by 21 patients in the pilot study and 80 patients in the revised study; 17 (81%) and 77 (96%) completed the respective studies. In both the pilot (P = .64) and revised (P = .63) studies, there was no significant difference between intervention groups in terms of baseline knowledge or gain in knowledge. Immediately postintervention, both groups showed significant improvement from baseline (P < .001 in the revised study and P < .01 in the pilot study). At the 1-month follow-up, patients in the pilot study randomized to receive the computerized presentation still showed significant gain in knowledge from baseline (P < .05), while those in the handout group did not. Meanwhile, both intervention groups in the revised study continued to show significant gain in knowledge from baseline at 1 month (P < .001). Conclusion Both written handouts and audiovisual computerized presentations about acne vulgaris confer significant and equivalent benefits in terms of short- and long-term knowledge gains among adolescent patients with acne.

Published 19 February 2008 in Arch Dermatol, 144(2): 208-14.
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