One-year follow-up effects of the informed health choices secondary school intervention on students’ ability to think critically about health in Uganda: a cluster randomized trial

Bibliographic Details
Title: One-year follow-up effects of the informed health choices secondary school intervention on students’ ability to think critically about health in Uganda: a cluster randomized trial
Authors: Ronald Ssenyonga, Andrew D. Oxman, Esther Nakyejwe, Faith Chesire, Michael Mugisha, Allen Nsangi, Matt Oxman, Christopher James Rose, Sarah E. Rosenbaum, Jenny Moberg, Margaret Kaseje, Laetitia Nyirazinyoye, Astrid Dahlgren, Simon Lewin, Nelson K. Sewankambo
Source: Trials, Vol 26, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2025)
Publisher Information: BMC, 2025.
Publication Year: 2025
Collection: LCC:Medicine (General)
Subject Terms: Critical thinking, Randomized trial, Critical health literacy, Secondary school, Teaching and learning resources, Medicine (General), R5-920
Description: Abstract Introduction We assessed the effects of the Informed Health Choices (IHC) secondary school intervention on students’ ability to think critically about choices 1 year after the intervention. Methods We randomized eighty secondary schools to the intervention or control (usual curriculum). The schools were randomly selected from the central region of Uganda and included rural and urban, government, and privately-owned schools. One randomly selected class of year-2 students (ages 14–17) from each school participated in the trial. The intervention included a 2-day teacher training workshop, 10 lessons accessed online by teachers and delivered in classrooms during one school term (May–August 2022). The lessons addressed nine prioritized IHC concepts. We used two multiple-choice questions for each concept to evaluate the students’ ability to think critically about choices at both the end of the school term and again after 1 year. The primary outcome was the proportion of students with a passing score (≥ 9 of 18 questions answered correctly) on the “Critical Thinking about Health” (CTH) test. Results After 1-year, 71% (1749/2477) of the students in the intervention schools and 71% (1684/2376) of the students in the control schools completed the CTH test. In the intervention schools, 53% (934/1749) of students who completed the test had a passing score compared to 33% (557/1684) of students in the control schools (adjusted difference 22%, 95% CI 16–28). Conclusions The effect of the IHC secondary school intervention on students’ ability to assess health-related claims was largely sustained for at least 1 year. Trial registration Pan African Clinical Trial Registry PACTR202204861458660. Registered on 4 April 2022.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 1745-6215
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/1745-6215
DOI: 10.1186/s13063-024-08607-7
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/16ba8db39323449f8ea9f1feac449eba
Accession Number: edsdoj.16ba8db39323449f8ea9f1feac449eba
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
Description
ISSN:17456215
DOI:10.1186/s13063-024-08607-7