Statistical Methods for Contemporary Clinical Trials
Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement
Understanding What Patients and the Public Prefer: Using Technology to Collect Data in Clinical Trials
We want to better understand what patients and the public think about different ways of collecting health information during clinical trials using technology.
In this survey, we looled at a few different digital tools:
Wearable Devices: These include things like smartwatches or fitness trackers that measure things like heart rate, activity, sleep, or blood pressure. These are helpful for understanding your general health.
Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMS): These are short surveys you can fill out from home to tell us how you're feeling, what symptoms you're experiencing, or any side effects you may have.
Medical Records: Sometimes, clinical trial teams can use information from your usual doctor’s visits or test results that are already in your medical records.
The survey was co-designed with the support of two Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) groups established as part of Annie Wright’s PhD. The groups included 12 members in total, with six taking part online and six attending in person.
Throughout the development of the survey, PPIE members worked alongside the research team to shape the survey content and design. We also worked together to consider and interpret the survey findings, ensuring that the perspectives and experiences of patients and members of the public were incorporated throughout the research process.
We are extremely grateful to all of our PPIE contributors for their time, insight and continued support. Their contributions have been invaluable in shaping this work.
Annie will be presenting the PPIE process as a case study at the International Clinical Trial Methodology Conference (ICTMC) 2026, sharing our experiences of involving patients and the public in the development and interpretation of a clinical trials survey. We hope to develop this work into a publication in the future.
If you would like to find out more about our approach to PPIE or discuss this work further, please get in touch with Annie.