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A memory and organizational aid improves Alzheimer disease research consent capacity: results of a randomized, controlled trial
Rubright J, Sankar P, Casarett DJ, Gur R, Xie SX, Karlawish J.. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 2010-12-01
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Objectives Early and progressive cognitive impairments of patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) hinder their capacity to provide informed consent. Unfortunately, the limited research on techniques to improve capacity has shown mixed results. Therefore, the authors tested whether a memory and organizational aid improves the performance of patients with AD on measures of capacity and competency to give informed consent. Design, setting, and participants Patients with AD randomly assigned to standard consent or standard plus a memory and organizational aid. Intervention Memory and organizational aid summarized the content of information mandated under the informed consent disclosure requirements of the Common Rule at a sixth grade reading level. Measurements Three psychiatrists without access to patient data independently reviewed MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Clinical Research (MacCAT-CR) interview transcripts to judge whether the patient was capable of providing informed consent. The agreement of at least two of the three experts defined a participant as capable of providing informed consent. Secondary outcomes are MacCAT-CR measures of understanding, appreciation and reasoning, and comparison with cognitively normal older adult norms. Results AD intervention and control groups were similar in terms of age, education, and cognitive status. The intervention group was more likely to be judged competent than control group and had higher scores on MacCAT-CR measure of understanding. The intervention had no effect on the measures of appreciation or reasoning. Conclusions A consent process that addresses the deficits in memory and attention of a patient with AD can improve capacity to give informed consent for early phase AD research. The results also validate the MacCAT-CR as an instrument to measure capacity, especially the understanding subscale. Trial registry ClinicalTrials.Gov#NCT00105612, http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00105612.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Rubright, J., Sankar, P., Casarett, D. J., Gur, R., Xie, S. X., & Karlawish, J. (2010). A memory and organizational aid improves Alzheimer disease research consent capacity: results of a randomized, controlled trial. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1097/jgp.0b013e3181dd1c3b
Vancouver
Rubright J, Sankar P, Casarett DJ, Gur R, Xie SX, Karlawish J. A memory and organizational aid improves Alzheimer disease research consent capacity: results of a randomized, controlled trial. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. 2010. doi:10.1097/jgp.0b013e3181dd1c3b. PMID: 20808101.
BibTeX
@article{rubright2010-20808101,
author = {Rubright, J. and Sankar, P. and Casarett, D. J. and Gur, R. and Xie, S. X. and Karlawish, J.},
title = {{A memory and organizational aid improves Alzheimer disease research consent capacity: results of a randomized, controlled trial}},
journal = {The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry},
year = {2010},
doi = {10.1097/jgp.0b013e3181dd1c3b},
pmid = {20808101},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1097/jgp.0b013e3181dd1c3b}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- Unfortunately, the limited research on techniques to improve capacity has shown mixed results.
- Results AD intervention and control groups were similar in terms of age, education, and cognitive status.
- The results also validate the MacCAT-CR as an instrument to measure capacity, especially the understanding subscale.
Why it matters
This trial found that a memory and organizational aid helped patients with Alzheimer's disease perform better on measures of capacity to give informed consent. This concerns the research consent process, not treating, curing, or preventing the disease itself.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 53/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a randomised controlled trial. Scored zero for sample size and effect reported because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: journal h-index 178 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 11 / 12 | A randomised controlled trial (from PubMed type “Randomized Controlled Trial”) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2010 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (pubmed indexes it as a clinical or observational study) |
| Randomised / blinded | 1 / 2 | Randomised (as stated in the record) |
| Times cited | 4 / 7 | Cited 48 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 1 / 5 | 2.7 citations a year over 18 year(s) since 2010 |
| Impact for its field and year | 2 / 6 | Cited 3.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 1 / 6 | Cited by 2 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 7 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 2 / 4 | Last-listed author Pamela L. Sankar: h-index 37 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of Pennsylvania: institution h-index 1,859 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 4 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 20808101) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 53 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
- DOI: 10.1097/jgp.0b013e3181dd1c3b
- PubMed: 20808101
- Original source →
- Free full text: PubMed Central →
Full text: free to read — PubMed Central lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 10 Oct 2026).
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