Changing belief in obstetrics: impact of two multicentre randomised controlled trials

The patients gave informed consent and the study had the approval of the local ethics committee and one investigator gave patients a structured questionnaire, about socodemographic information, occupational history, lifelonghabits, and personal and familial medical history.

Abstract

Doctors may not know the results of relevant trials or apply them in everyday practice. Even when presented with results, their responses are not predictable. However rigorous the research, it must be assessed alongside other information before it can influence practice. De Vet and colleagues 1 De Vet HCW Kesssels AGH Leffers P Knipschild A randomised trial about the perceived informativeness of new empirical evidence: does beta-carotene prevent (cervical) cancer. J Clin Epidemiol. 1993; 46: 509-517 Summary Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar measured the informativeness of a paper by assessing the change in belief it induced. We investigated whether this method could be used after the publication of research studies to quantify long-term belief.