Table 2.
Participants’ knowledge-related responses
| Variables | n (% of participants) |
| Have you heard about clinical trials? | |
| Yes | 289 (30.8) |
| No/not sure | 648 (69.1) |
| What is the definition of a clinical trial? | |
| Studies in clinics to survey patients’ opinions about healthcare topics | 139 (14.8) |
| Experiments on animals | 119 (12.7) |
| Studies to test new drugs or procedures on humans | 410 (43.7) |
| Graduation projects for medical students | 62 (6.6) |
| Not sure | 208 (22.2) |
| Have you heard about an IRB? | |
| Yes | 251 (26.8) |
| No | 685 (73.1) |
| Have you heard of the SFDA? | |
| Yes | 761 (81.1) |
| No | 177 (18.9) |
| Does the SFDA play a role in regulating clinical trials? | |
| Yes | 622 (66.4) |
| No | 315 (33.6) |
| Are there ethical guidelines to regulate the conduct of clinical trials? | |
| Yes | 673 (71.8) |
| No | 265 (28.3) |
| Are there direct benefits for participants in clinical trials? | |
| Definitely | 313 (33.4) |
| Definitely not | 35 (3.7) |
| No benefit or harm | 19 (2.0) |
| Possible benefit or harm | 436 (46.5) |
| Not sure | 135 (14.4) |
| Do clinical trials have direct benefits for the community? | |
| Yes | 676 (72.1) |
| No | 262 (27.9) |
| When can an investigator start clinical trials? | |
| Any time they want | 42 (4.5) |
| Only with participant agreement | 135 (14.4) |
| After obtaining manager approval | 41 (4.4) |
| They should obtain approval from responsible authorities | 525 (56.0) |
| Not sure | 195 (20.8) |
| Can an investigator recruit patients without their approval? | |
| Yes | 250 (26.7) |
| No | 687 (73.3) |
| Can participants freely withdraw from clinical trials anytime? | |
| Yes | 446 (47.6) |
| No | 492 (52.5) |
| May published articles include confidential patient information (eg, names)? | |
| Yes | 318 (33.9) |
| No | 620 (66.1) |
| Knowledge score out of 100 (12 questions) | 56.8± 24.8 |
IRB, Institutional Review Board; SFDA, Saudi Food and Drug Authority.