It is a requirement of research to return a copy of the consent form that a participant signed. When using REDCap for e-consent, it is up to the study team to determine if they want to use the tools in REDCap to return a PDF copy of the e-consent survey to the participant, or if they want to use methods outside of REDCap to handle returning a copy of the consent form to the participant. For teams electing to use the tools in REDCap, there are two options detailed below, which will generate a PDF of the participant's signed and submitted e-consent survey.

Who this guidance applies to

Study teams with REDCap projects including an Information Sheet & Authorization or Research Consent & Authorization, where the participant's written signature has been transformed into the participant entering their first and last name and completing the certification page.

How to Return a PDF Copy of the Signed E-Consent

Technical Considerations for Connecting Surveys

If the participant should move on to another survey immediately after completing e-consent, there must be a pause in the flow of surveys to allow the participant to see either the download button (Option #1 above) or to enter their email address if their email is not already collected in the project (Option #2 above). A pause in the flow of surveys can only be affected by connecting the e-consent survey to the next survey via the Survey Queue, and unchecking the Auto Start box (see screenshot below). It is not possible to pause surveys when using the Auto-Continue option in Survey Settings.

Changes & Improvements

• New function: dayoftheweek()

  • Determine the day of the week for a given date or datetime. An integer will be returned corresponding to a specific day of the week as follows: 1=Monday, 2=Tuesday, 3=Wednesday, 4=Thursday, 5=Friday, 6=Saturday, 7=Sunday.
    • Example: dayoftheweek( [visit_date] ).
    • NOTE: You may use "today" or "now" as the date parameter in the function, which can prove helpful for triggering an Alert or ASI to be triggered on weekdays but not weekends, for example - e.g., dayoftheweek("today") < 6 (this means that the Alert/ASI will not trigger on Saturday or Sunday).

• User Rights

  • When removing the Delete Records privilege from a user or role, REDCap now automatically removes all form-level Delete rights and displays a prompt to update individual forms, as necessary

• Survey Settings

  • Survey Settings can now be exported and/or imported via a CSV file.
    • All Survey Settings will be included in the CSV file, except for survey logo and the email confirmation attachment. 
    • Access this feature via the Survey Settings button in the Online Designer
      

• Secondary Unique ID

  • In the Additional Customizations popup on the Project Setup page, a warning has been added to the text for the "Designate a Secondary Unique Field" feature. To encourage best practices, it says the following: "It is recommended that you NOT use the Secondary Unique Field on a survey for an identifier field, such as Medical Record Number, Social Security Number, or email address, because doing so may give a survey participant the ability to test if certain values have already been used for that field in order to determine the identity of a specific person who has taken the survey."

Build your project to send surveys in English and Spanish using the Multi-Language Management tool.

The Multi-Language Management (MLM) tool is an optional module that builders can set up to display their REDCap surveys, survey settings and automated invitations in Spanish. 

Who is eligible:

Research projects using the Standard Support for Research support track are eligible to use Multi-Language Management (MLM) tool.

• The MLM tool is not available for non-research projects to use.
• The MLM tool is not available for research projects using the Self-Service for research support track.

There are two types of MLM implementations.

• MLM Lite
  • A limited approach for supporting a project using the MLM tool to display the participant facing system messaging and system generated interface elements (i.e. pop-up messages, submit buttons, required alerts etc.) for surveys that the study team has built in Spanish. 

• • Best suited for:

    • New REDCap project builders

    • Builders new to setting up REDCap survey projects

    • Builders who are bandwidth constrained in allocating time and learning effort to setting up and managing a REDCap project

• • The REDCap team provides free support for MLM Lite via drop-in. 
    
    
  • Review a demo of Spanish survey using MLM Lite.
    
    
• MLM
  • A complete approach for supporting a project using the MLM tool to capture the participant's language preference, and then depending on their preference, display in English or Spanish, the surveys that the study team have built in English, as well as the survey related participant facing system messaging and the system generated interface elements (i.e. pop-up message, submit buttons, required alerts etc.).
    
    
  • Best suited for:
    • Builders with extensive experience setting up REDCap survey projects
    • Builders who are not bandwidth constrained in allocating time and learning effort to setting up and managing a REDCap project

• • The REDCap Team is currently piloting the full implementation of the MLM, and there are charges to participate in the pilot. 
    
    
  • Review a demo of survey that can be completed in English or Spanish using MLM.

Interested in using Multi-Language Management tool, contact the REDCap Team.