Comparison of AI-assisted and human-produced podcasts derived from cochrane plain language summaries: Protocol for a randomized noninferiority trial (Health Information Effectiveness Trials-2)

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dc.contributor.authorO'Byrne, Isabel
dc.contributor.authorPope, Johanna
dc.contributor.authorByrne, Paula
dc.contributor.authorDahly, Darren
dc.contributor.authorJudge, Conor
dc.contributor.authorO'Donnell, Martin
dc.contributor.authorKrewer, Finn
dc.contributor.authorLi, Mengqi
dc.contributor.authorSaif-Ur-Rahman, K. M.
dc.contributor.authorConway, Tom
dc.contributor.authorThomas, James
dc.contributor.authorSheils, Geraldine
dc.contributor.authorBurke, Nikita
dc.contributor.authorO'Byrne, Marie
dc.contributor.authorO'Byrne, Aislinn
dc.contributor.authorDevane, Declan
dc.contributor.funderHealth Research Board, HRB, INFO-2021-001
dc.contributor.funderUniversity of Galway
dc.contributor.funderPublic Health Agency (Northern Ireland)
dc.date.accessioned2026-10-20T15:38:01Z
dc.date.available2026-10-20T15:38:01Z
dc.date.issued2026-05-19
dc.description.abstractBackground and objectives Podcasts can make health evidence easier to follow, but it is unclear whether artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted production can match human production when both use the same audio format. This trial will evaluate whether a vetted AI workflow can match human communicators on comprehension, quality, safety, accessibility, and trust when both deliver podcasts derived from the same evidence base. Methods We will run a randomized, two-arm, noninferiority trial comparing AI-assisted podcasts with human-produced podcasts. Adults (≥18 years; English-proficient) will be recruited from the general public via Prolific, an online research participant recruitment platform, and randomly allocated 1:1 to listen to three short episodes (6–8 minutes each) based on the same Cochrane Plain Language Summaries. The AI arm uses Wondercraft AI in a human-in-the-loop workflow; the human arm features experienced communicators working to an identical brief. In both arms, content is limited to the plain language summary, with authorship masked for participants and expert raters. The primary outcome is comprehension, measured by a 10-item test per episode, with the primary analysis using the participant-level mean score across the three episodes, aligned with the “Understanding” dimension of the Quality, Understanding, Expression, Safety, and Trust framework. Secondary outcomes include format accessibility (listenability), quality of information, perceived trust, and safety. Noninferiority margins are prespecified; for comprehension, the margin is 1 point on the 10-item scale. If noninferiority is shown, we will also assess superiority. We plan to recruit 458 participants. Differences between arms will be estimated using appropriate repeated-measures models, with two-sided 95% confidence intervals. Results This is a study protocol; results will be reported on completion of the trial.en
dc.description.sponsorshipHealth Research Board (HRB)|INFO-2021-001
dc.description.sponsorshipUniversity of Galway
dc.description.sponsorshipPublic Health Agency (Northern Ireland).
dc.description.versionPublished Version
dc.format.extent11
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleid112272
dc.identifier.authororcidO'Byrne, Isabel
dc.identifier.authororcidPope, Johanna
dc.identifier.authororcidByrne, Paula
dc.identifier.authororcidDahly, Darren§0000-0003-0110-324X
dc.identifier.authororcidJudge, Conor
dc.identifier.authororcidO'Donnell, Martin
dc.identifier.authororcidKrewer, Finn
dc.identifier.authororcidLi, Mengqi
dc.identifier.authororcidSaif-Ur-Rahman, K. M.
dc.identifier.authororcidConway, Tom
dc.identifier.authororcidThomas, James
dc.identifier.authororcidSheils, Geraldine
dc.identifier.authororcidBurke, Nikita
dc.identifier.authororcidO'Byrne, Marie
dc.identifier.authororcidO'Byrne, Aislinn
dc.identifier.authororcidDevane, Declan
dc.identifier.citationO'Byrne, I, Pope, J, Byrne, P, Dahly, D, Judge, C, O'Donnell, M, Krewer, F, Li, M, Saif-Ur-Rahman, K M, Conway, T, Thomas, J, Sheils, G, Burke, N, O'Byrne, M, O'Byrne, A & Devane, D 2026, 'Comparison of AI-assisted and human-produced podcasts derived from cochrane plain language summaries: Protocol for a randomized noninferiority trial (Health Information Effectiveness Trials-2)', Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, vol. 195, 112272, pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2026.112272
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.jclinepi.2026.112272
dc.identifier.endpage11
dc.identifier.issn0895-4356
dc.identifier.journaltitleJournal of Clinical Epidemiology
dc.identifier.startpage1
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/19469
dc.identifier.volume195
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherElsevier Inc.
dc.relation.urihttps://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105039272177
dc.rights© 2026, authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
dc.rights.accessrightsopen access
dc.rights.licensenameAttribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.statusPeer reviewed
dc.subjectArtificial intelligence
dc.subjectCochrane reviews
dc.subjectHealth communication
dc.subjectNoninferiority trial
dc.subjectPlain language summaries
dc.subjectPodcasts
dc.subjectQUEST framework
dc.subjectSystematic reviews
dc.subject[CoMHOffice]
dc.subject[Medicine]
dc.titleComparison of AI-assisted and human-produced podcasts derived from cochrane plain language summaries: Protocol for a randomized noninferiority trial (Health Information Effectiveness Trials-2)en
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)
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