Looking at Research Consent Forms through a Participant-Centered Lens: The PRISM Readability Toolkit

Abstract

Synopsis Communicating in lay language is an underdeveloped skill among many researchers—a limitation that contributes to low readability among research consent forms and may hinder participant understanding of study procedures and risks. We present the Project to Review and Improve Study Materials (PRISM) and its centerpiece, the PRISM Readability Toolkit. The toolkit provides strategies for creating study materials that are readable and participant centered, focusing on consent forms but also addressing other participant materials. Based on plain language principles, this free resource includes a flexible menu of tools, such as an editing checklist, before and after examples, easy-to-read template language, and a list of alternative words. Among PRISM's ongoing goals is to test the toolkit with populations groups.