3 The Immortal Life of Ethics? The Alienation of Body Tissue ... 79were in the video animation group, and 33.3% (49) were in the inter-
active exam group. Participants were aged between 34 and 79 years,
with a median age of 66 years. The majority of participants were female
(67.3%), with 57.1% (84) of participants reporting being either person-
ally affected, or having a family member affected, with a condition rel-
evant to the research.
Of our three groups, those that received the standard information
and consent procedure demonstrated a generally poor understanding of
the material. Contrastingly, the video animation and interactive consent
groups demonstrated an improved understanding. The video anima-
tion group showed an equal or greater proportion of correct responses
in thirteen out of fourteen questions compared to the standard consent
group and showed a statistically significant improvement in four ques-
tions (Chi-squared test p < 0.05). The interactive consent group had a
higher or equal level of understanding across all fourteen comprehen-
sion questions when compared to both the video animation and the
standard consent group, and showed a statistically significant increase in
the proportion of correct responses for eight comprehension questions
when compared to the standard consent group, and four compared to
the video animation group (Chi-squared test p < 0.05).
Significantly fewer respondents from the standard consent group
(27.1%) understood the potential for samples of iPSC lines to exist
indefinitely compared to the video animation group (76%, p < 0.001).
Understanding was greater again in the interactive consent group (91.8%)
compared to both the standard consent and video animation groups
(p < 0.001, p = 0.032, respectively). This poor understanding of those
given the standard consent procedure is concerning, especially in the light
of the various ethical issues that we examined earlier in the chapter and
well illustrated by the ongoing controversy of the HeLa cell line (Skloot
2010 ). Comprehension of the immortal life of the cells was another
important part of the consent and research process, as not understanding
this aspect of the consent procedure may have huge ramifications if the
tissue donor withdraws their consent or their descendant wishes to, thus
having an impact on future research and the development of therapies.
Another interesting result from the use of the video animation and
interactive consent process was a greater comprehension of the science
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