Name
PANEL: Increasing the Value of Clinical Trials in Digital Mental Health
Time
3:00 PM - 3:30 PM (EST)
Description

Topic overview: While clinical trials in digital mental health have proliferated in recent years, limited research has evaluated the informativeness of these trials. The concept of informativeness has several important domains, including team expertise, methodological quality, ethical and equitable conduct, and pathways for translation. Trials that are uninformative, due to deficits in one or more of these domains, are unlikely to influence policy or practice. This workshop will present a Wellcome-commissioned project that created a framework for assessing the informativeness of clinical trials of digital mental health interventions, which was driven by existing literature and refined through Delphi methods with four diverse stakeholder groups including those with Lived Experience. The framework was then used to determine the informativeness of recent clinical trials in digital mental health and examine factors relating to trial informativeness. This workshop will provide participants with an introduction to the concept of ‘informativeness’ and how informativeness can be preserved across all phases of research, including dissemination. Workshop participants will discuss the strengths and limitations of definitions of informativeness, identify approaches for applying this methodology to evaluate clinical trials in other areas of health and medicine, and deliberate on the aspects of informativeness that may be general or specific. Interactive discussions will also examine which aspects of informativeness may be most valued by different stakeholder groups, including policy makers, clinicians, consumers, researchers and methodologists. Learning Objectives Attendees of the workshop will be able to: (1) improve their knowledge of the concept of informativeness and its relationship to the implementation and translation of digital mental health interventions (2) understand and apply a methodology for improving the value of digital mental health trials for various stakeholders including policy makers, (3) demonstrate how indicators of informativeness can be applied to existing and new trials, (4) contribute to identifying approaches to extending informativeness criteria across health and medicine and to other forms of evidence. Workshop format The workshop will be highly interactive, aiming to draw on diverse expertise to consider how informativeness frameworks might enhance the implementation of evidence-based interventions. We will include presentations from cross-disciplinary experts in clinical trials, public health and implementation science, with Q&A sessions and a panel discussion. Subsequently, we will explore with attendees the strengths and limitations of applying informativeness criteria to different areas of health and medical research, using a mixture of small group discussions, online polls, and rapid summaries. The workshop will culminate in a group discussion around how the concept of trial informativeness can best support the implementation of evidence into practice, followed by synthesis of the discussion to inform further collaboration to optimise the conduct of clinical trials.

Bridianne O'Dea, Ph.D.
Location Name
Metropolitan Centre