Concentrics Research Announces Validation of Health Literacy Instruments for Use in Virtual Environments

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Mar 23, 2022, 15:53 ET

INDIANAPOLIS, March 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Concentrics Research (Indianapolis, IN and Parsippany, NJ) announces the validation of two widely-used health literacy instruments for use in virtual environments. The Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM) and the Rapid Estimate of Adolescent Literacy in Medicine (REALM-Teen) are now validated for virtual use and can easily be administered by video on smartphones, tablets or laptops between patients and researchers.

"We have conducted clinical, consumer and patient-focused research for years using the REALM and REALM-Teen health literacy tests in over 1,000 research studies. These instruments offer convenience and efficiency for researchers; however, they have not been validated for virtual use. Now these tools can be used in virtual study visits," stated Julie Aker, President & CEO at Concentrics. "We were honored to partner with the creator of REALM and REALM-Teen, Terry Davis, PhD, on this important work." "It has been exciting and gratifying to see how the use of these instruments has expanded over the years for use in clinical trials and consumer research. The ability to use these tools in virtual environments now offers researchers a novel way to conduct literacy assessments," commented Dr. Davis.

To meet Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements, many research studies assessing the safe and effective use of therapeutic products must include populations of limited literacy. "To be able to test health literacy virtually marks an important milestone in the innovative use of technology for research studies. Significantly, during the pandemic, virtual testing provides a safe, socially distanced opportunity for patients and investigators to engage in clinical research," stated Dr. Leonard-Segal, former Director of the Division of Nonprescription Clinical Evaluation at FDA. Barbara Kochanowski, Sr. Vice President, Regulatory & Scientific Affairs for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association commented, "The validation of the REALM and REALM-Teen for virtual use broadens access to patients and consumers to participate in research studies because they no longer need to come to a physical research site for literacy testing."

The validation has just been published online by the Journal of General Internal Medicine and is accessed as the open-access article, "Evaluating Health Literacy in Virtual Environments: Validation of the REALM and REALM-Teen for Virtual Use" (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35314964/).

Concentrics offers CRO services for late-stage studies (Phase II-IV, Rx-to-OTC Switch, consumer and device studies) including research design and execution expertise for pharmaceutical and device companies. Services include consultation, study design, protocol development, recruitment, IRB submission, monitoring, data collection, data management, statistics and medical writing. Concentrics' staff includes researchers, clinicians, data management, compliance, information technology and telemedicine services. For more information, visit www.concentricsresearch.com.

Contact Information:

Concentrics Research
Julie Aker, President & CEO
[email protected]

SOURCE Concentrics Research