Effects of the Informed Health Choices podcast on the ability of parents of primary school children in Uganda to assess the trustworthiness of claims about treatment effects: one-year follow up of a randomised trial
Abstract Introduction Earlier, we designed and evaluated an educational mass media intervention for improving people’s ability to think more critically and to assess the trustworthiness of claims (assertions) about the benefits and harms (effects) of treatments. The overall aims of this follow-up st...
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2020-02-01
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-020-4093-x |
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Article |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Daniel Semakula Allen Nsangi Andrew D. Oxman Matt Oxman Astrid Austvoll-Dahlgren Sarah Rosenbaum Angela Morelli Claire Glenton Simon Lewin Laetitia Nyirazinyoye Margaret Kaseje Iain Chalmers Atle Fretheim Christopher J. Rose Nelson K. Sewankambo |
spellingShingle |
Daniel Semakula Allen Nsangi Andrew D. Oxman Matt Oxman Astrid Austvoll-Dahlgren Sarah Rosenbaum Angela Morelli Claire Glenton Simon Lewin Laetitia Nyirazinyoye Margaret Kaseje Iain Chalmers Atle Fretheim Christopher J. Rose Nelson K. Sewankambo Effects of the Informed Health Choices podcast on the ability of parents of primary school children in Uganda to assess the trustworthiness of claims about treatment effects: one-year follow up of a randomised trial Trials Podcast Health choices Treatment effects Evidence-informed decision-making Critical thinking Health literacy |
author_facet |
Daniel Semakula Allen Nsangi Andrew D. Oxman Matt Oxman Astrid Austvoll-Dahlgren Sarah Rosenbaum Angela Morelli Claire Glenton Simon Lewin Laetitia Nyirazinyoye Margaret Kaseje Iain Chalmers Atle Fretheim Christopher J. Rose Nelson K. Sewankambo |
author_sort |
Daniel Semakula |
title |
Effects of the Informed Health Choices podcast on the ability of parents of primary school children in Uganda to assess the trustworthiness of claims about treatment effects: one-year follow up of a randomised trial |
title_short |
Effects of the Informed Health Choices podcast on the ability of parents of primary school children in Uganda to assess the trustworthiness of claims about treatment effects: one-year follow up of a randomised trial |
title_full |
Effects of the Informed Health Choices podcast on the ability of parents of primary school children in Uganda to assess the trustworthiness of claims about treatment effects: one-year follow up of a randomised trial |
title_fullStr |
Effects of the Informed Health Choices podcast on the ability of parents of primary school children in Uganda to assess the trustworthiness of claims about treatment effects: one-year follow up of a randomised trial |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effects of the Informed Health Choices podcast on the ability of parents of primary school children in Uganda to assess the trustworthiness of claims about treatment effects: one-year follow up of a randomised trial |
title_sort |
effects of the informed health choices podcast on the ability of parents of primary school children in uganda to assess the trustworthiness of claims about treatment effects: one-year follow up of a randomised trial |
publisher |
BMC |
series |
Trials |
issn |
1745-6215 |
publishDate |
2020-02-01 |
description |
Abstract Introduction Earlier, we designed and evaluated an educational mass media intervention for improving people’s ability to think more critically and to assess the trustworthiness of claims (assertions) about the benefits and harms (effects) of treatments. The overall aims of this follow-up study were to evaluate the impact of our intervention 1 year after it was administered, and to assess retention of learning and behaviour regarding claims about treatments. Methods We randomly allocated consenting parents to listen to either the Informed Health Choices podcast (intervention) or typical public service announcements about health issues (control) over 7–10 weeks. Each intervention episode explained how the trustworthiness of treatment claims can be assessed by using relevant key concepts of evidence-informed decision-making. Participants listened to two episodes per week, delivered by research assistants. We evaluated outcomes immediately, and a year after the intervention. Primary outcomes were mean score and the proportion with a score indicating a basic ability to apply the key concepts (> 11 out of 18 correct answers) on a tool measuring people’s ability to critically appraise the trustworthiness of treatment claims. Skills decay/retention was estimated by calculating the relative difference between the follow-up and initial results in the intervention group, adjusting for chance. Statistical analyses were performed using R (R Core Team, Vienna, Austria; version 3.4.3). Results After 1 year, the mean score for parents in the intervention group was 58.9% correct answers, compared to 52.6% in the control (adjusted mean difference of 6.7% (95% CI 3.3% to 10.1%)). In the intervention group, 47.2% of 267 parents had a score indicating a basic ability to assess treatment claims compared to 39.5% of 256 parents in the control (adjusted difference of 9.8% more parents (95% CI 0.9% to 18.9%). These represent relative reductions of 29% in the mean scores and 33% in the proportion of parents with a score indicating a basic ability to assess the trustworthiness of claims about treatment effects. Conclusions Although listening to the Informed Health Choices podcast initially led to a large improvement in the ability of parents to assess claims about the effects of treatments, our findings show that these skills decreased substantially over 1 year. More active practice could address the substantial skills decay observed over 1 year. Trial registration Pan African Clinical Trial Registry (www.pactr.org), PACTR201606001676150. Registered on 12 June 2016. |
topic |
Podcast Health choices Treatment effects Evidence-informed decision-making Critical thinking Health literacy |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-020-4093-x |
work_keys_str_mv |
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doaj-a0849c6a52d74ff994c1c4ff39ddfd432021-02-14T12:30:18ZengBMCTrials1745-62152020-02-0121111810.1186/s13063-020-4093-xEffects of the Informed Health Choices podcast on the ability of parents of primary school children in Uganda to assess the trustworthiness of claims about treatment effects: one-year follow up of a randomised trialDaniel Semakula0Allen Nsangi1Andrew D. Oxman2Matt Oxman3Astrid Austvoll-Dahlgren4Sarah Rosenbaum5Angela Morelli6Claire Glenton7Simon Lewin8Laetitia Nyirazinyoye9Margaret Kaseje10Iain Chalmers11Atle Fretheim12Christopher J. Rose13Nelson K. Sewankambo14College of Health Sciences, Makerere UniversityCollege of Health Sciences, Makerere UniversityCentre for Informed Health Choices, Norwegian Institute of Public HealthCentre for Informed Health Choices, Norwegian Institute of Public HealthCentre for Informed Health Choices, Norwegian Institute of Public HealthCentre for Informed Health Choices, Norwegian Institute of Public HealthInfodesignlabCentre for Informed Health Choices, Norwegian Institute of Public HealthCentre for Informed Health Choices, Norwegian Institute of Public HealthSchool of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of RwandaTropical Institute of Community HealthJames Lind InitiativeUniversity of OsloCentre for Informed Health Choices, Norwegian Institute of Public HealthCollege of Health Sciences, Makerere UniversityAbstract Introduction Earlier, we designed and evaluated an educational mass media intervention for improving people’s ability to think more critically and to assess the trustworthiness of claims (assertions) about the benefits and harms (effects) of treatments. The overall aims of this follow-up study were to evaluate the impact of our intervention 1 year after it was administered, and to assess retention of learning and behaviour regarding claims about treatments. Methods We randomly allocated consenting parents to listen to either the Informed Health Choices podcast (intervention) or typical public service announcements about health issues (control) over 7–10 weeks. Each intervention episode explained how the trustworthiness of treatment claims can be assessed by using relevant key concepts of evidence-informed decision-making. Participants listened to two episodes per week, delivered by research assistants. We evaluated outcomes immediately, and a year after the intervention. Primary outcomes were mean score and the proportion with a score indicating a basic ability to apply the key concepts (> 11 out of 18 correct answers) on a tool measuring people’s ability to critically appraise the trustworthiness of treatment claims. Skills decay/retention was estimated by calculating the relative difference between the follow-up and initial results in the intervention group, adjusting for chance. Statistical analyses were performed using R (R Core Team, Vienna, Austria; version 3.4.3). Results After 1 year, the mean score for parents in the intervention group was 58.9% correct answers, compared to 52.6% in the control (adjusted mean difference of 6.7% (95% CI 3.3% to 10.1%)). In the intervention group, 47.2% of 267 parents had a score indicating a basic ability to assess treatment claims compared to 39.5% of 256 parents in the control (adjusted difference of 9.8% more parents (95% CI 0.9% to 18.9%). These represent relative reductions of 29% in the mean scores and 33% in the proportion of parents with a score indicating a basic ability to assess the trustworthiness of claims about treatment effects. Conclusions Although listening to the Informed Health Choices podcast initially led to a large improvement in the ability of parents to assess claims about the effects of treatments, our findings show that these skills decreased substantially over 1 year. More active practice could address the substantial skills decay observed over 1 year. Trial registration Pan African Clinical Trial Registry (www.pactr.org), PACTR201606001676150. Registered on 12 June 2016.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-020-4093-xPodcastHealth choicesTreatment effectsEvidence-informed decision-makingCritical thinkingHealth literacy |