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

Abstract

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