Case Control Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. May 27, 2022; 14(5): 972-983
Published online May 27, 2022. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v14.i5.972
Innovations in education: A prospective study of storytelling narratives to enhance hepatitis C virus knowledge among substance users
Andrew H Talal, Yu-Xin Ding, Marianthi Markatou
Andrew H Talal, Department of Medicine, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14203, United States
Yu-Xin Ding, Marianthi Markatou, Department of Biostatistics, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14214, United States
Author contributions: Talal AH conceived of the study, obtained funding, supervised data collection, wrote and revised the manuscript; Markatou M obtained funding, designed the study and supervised the analysis, wrote and revised the manuscript; Ding Y designed the study and performed the analysis, wrote and revised the manuscript; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Supported by the Investigator-Initiated Grant from Merck Inc, No. MISP# 57252; the Troup Fund of the Kaleida Health Foundation; and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Award, IHS-1507-31640.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the University at Buffalo (Approval No. 00002677).
Clinical trial registration statement: ClinTrials.gov Registration No. NCT04204447. Date of initial posting: December 19, 2019.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None of the other authors have any potential conflicts.
Data sharing statement: Data are available from the corresponding author at ahtalal@buffalo.edu upon reasonable request.
STROBE statement: The manuscript has been prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Andrew H Talal, MD, Professor, Department of Medicine, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, 875 Ellicot Street, UB CTRC 6090, Buffalo, NY 14203, United States. ahtalal@buffalo.edu
Received: January 5, 2022
Peer-review started: January 5, 2022
First decision: February 8, 2022
Revised: February 21, 2022
Accepted: April 20, 2022
Article in press: April 20, 2022
Published online: May 27, 2022
Processing time: 138 Days and 20.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Even though substance users have the highest hepatitis C virus (HCV) burden, many lack knowledge about the infection. Lack of knowledge is an important obstacle to pursuing HCV care. Although printed materials are conventionally utilized to disseminate HCV-related knowledge, narrative story-telling videos may be an alternative. Data are extremely limited, however, in the ability of storytelling videos to increase HCV knowledge among substance users. In this study, we hypothesized that a story-telling narrative video would increase substance user’s immediate and 1-month HCV-related knowledge compared to a printed format.

AIM

To assess immediate and 1-month HCV-related knowledge retention among substance users comparing education delivered via a storytelling narrative video compared to a printed format.

METHODS

We conducted a prospective matched, case-control study among substance users actively prescribed buprenorphine enrolled from two sites. The intervention site received the video and the control site, the brochure. Participants (n = 176) were matched on age, gender, and race. We obtained extensive patient and stakeholder input on the video’s design, validated the video’s content, and developed a recruitment plan to guide participant enrollment. Knowledge was assessed by administration of a 25-item instrument immediately before, immediately after, or one month after the intervention. Data were analyzed using nonparametric and generalized linear mixed-effects models.

RESULTS

We recruited a total of 176 substance users, 90 and 86 individuals, from each site, respectively. One-month follow up occurred in 92% and 94% of enrollees in the control and intervention groups, respectively. In comparison with the pre-intervention scores, immediate knowledge recall increased significantly for both the intervention (P < 0.0001) and control (P < 0.0001) groups. Multivariate modeling revealed a significant improvement in HCV-related knowledge and retention (P = 0.033) among participants who viewed the storytelling video.

CONCLUSION

Storytelling narratives emphasizing HCV education appear to be an effective method to increase HCV-related knowledge among substance users. They should become an educational cornerstone to promote HCV management among this population.

Keywords: Hepatitis C virus education; Hepatitis C Virus; Hepatitis C virus knowledge; Persons with opioid use disorder; Decision-making in healthcare

Core Tip: Despite high hepatitis C virus (HCV) burden, people with opioid use disorder (PWOUD) frequently lack knowledge about HCV. Printed brochures are the conventional method of HCV knowledge dissemination, although storytelling narrative videos have attributes that suggest they may be more effective. In this study, we assessed HCV knowledge improvement among PWOUD comparing a storytelling narrative video to a written brochure. Among 176 PWOUD, we found that immediate HCV-related knowledge recall was significantly increased by both methods. Multivariate modeling revealed a significant improvement in HCV-related knowledge and retention among intervention participants. In conclusion, storytelling narratives effectively improve HCV-related knowledge among PWOUD.