Clinical Trial Recruitment Education Becoming Increasingly Interactive

As myths and misconceptions about participation in clinical trials continue to proliferate, researchers are continually on the hunt for new ways to educate potential patients — especially parents and children — about the importance of participating in clinical trials. A recent example of this is the launch of a new video game from The New England Research Institutes (NERI), which aims to educate children about clinical research trials and is available for free download from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

The game, called “The Paper Kingdom,” is based on a quest in which the player must find their lost “younger brother” who has run away, and features challenges which subtly convey concepts such as confidentiality, parental pressure, and the global benefits from research. By the time the game is finished and the lost brother has been found, children will have learned what a clinical trial is and their potential role in it.

Game-based learning is the subject of a lot of educational research, and educators find that the motivation-based medium is invaluable in teaching concepts to children.

Marc Prensky, education expert, argues that educators should take advantage of a video game’s defining quality: its ability to keep attention. According to Prensky, “A motivated learner can’t be stopped.”

Jordan Shapiro, contributing writer for Forbes, is an advocate of game-based learning. He explains, “Through play, children experiment and iterate. They learn to make sense of the world through imaginative exploration. Play is always educational. Toys and video games always teach kids something. They teach kids how to participate in the culture in which they live.”

Recruiting children into clinical trials has always been a challenge for clinicians, whose efforts encounter many more obstacles than clinical trials involving adults. Issues of consent are considerably muddier, and parents and doctors alike possess a universal instinct to protect minors from any possible harm.

According to Valerie Shilling, U.K. psychologists the issue lies with the doctor as much as with the parent. Many doctors struggle to find a way of communicating the value of clinical research when faced with the understandably stressed parent of a sick child.

Despite challenges, the desperate need for pediatric research still remains. Currently, pediatric research is under-represented, and many pediatricians must resort to off-label methods and use medications only tested on adults. The results are potentially quite dangerous.

NERI hopes their new game can give doctors a tool which they can use to connect with children and to present necessary information. The possession of such a tool could bolster doctor confidence when approaching potential participants and lead to more successful recruitment efforts.

The value of pediatric clinical trials cannot be denied.  According to a study conducted by Kathy Pritchard-Jones, U.K. pediatric oncologist, “Seventy-five percent of children newly diagnosed with cancer can expect to be long term survivors. This success has been achieved because most children with cancer have participated in available clinical trials.”