Decoding clinical trial jargon: helping people understand the efficacy end points used in cancer trials.

Abstract

People living with cancer should have access to clear and comprehensible treatment information to empower informed decision-making. With the increasing adoption of open access publishing and plain-language summaries, clinical trial findings in journals are becoming more accessible. However, this will only help patients if they are equipped with the relevant knowledge and understanding to make sense of these findings. This podcast highlights the need to support this aspect of health literacy by bringing together the perspectives of a patient, a patient advocate and a medical oncologist. It is accompanied by two visual, plain-language guides designed to help general audiences understand the key efficacy end points that are commonly used in trials of solid tumor treatments.