How to present economic evaluations to non-technical audiences? Randomized trials with professionals and the general population.

Abstract Background Cost-effectiveness analyses of health technologies have become a part of the decision-making process in healthcare policies. Nevertheless, economic results are not always presented in comprehensible formats for non-technical audiences, such as the general population, healthcare professionals or decision-makers. The purpose of this study was to observe which formats better convey the key message of an economic evaluation, and which are better received in two different audiences.Methods Summary of a hypothetical cost-effectiveness analysis was edited in different formats: infographic, plain language text and video-abstract for the general population; executive summary and policy brief for a specialized population, i.e. clinicians, clinical and non-clinical managers, or methodologists in health-technology assessment. Participants were randomly shown one of the formats, and data on objective and subjective comprehension, and perceived usefulness/acceptability were gathered via on-line questionnaires. Statistical differences between formats were evaluated with t-test and analysis of variance.Results In the general population (N = 324), the infographic group had significantly better objective comprehension than the plain text and video-abstract groups (p = 0.012), there were no differences in subjective comprehension, and video-abstract was considered slightly more useful to understand the information than the other formats. In the specialized population (N = 100), no significant differences were observed for objective and subjective comprehension, although both measures were slightly better for executive summary than policy brief; however, policy brief was perceived to be significantly more useful than executive summary (p = 0.043).Conclusions Infographic could be a good way to present economic data to the general public, although video-abstract seemed to be more attractive for this audience. Among the specialized population, policy brief was clearly preferred, but not better understood. A balance between effectivity of transmitting the message and attractivity of the format needs to be sought, to facilitate non-technical audiences’ understanding economic data and consequently perceive the decision-making processes as more transparent and legitimate.