Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28109313›Full record

Trial reportTrials2017

Can an educational podcast improve the ability of parents of primary school children to assess the reliability of claims made about the benefits and harms of treatments: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Daniel Semakula, Allen Nsangi, Matt Oxman, Astrid Austvoll-Dahlgren, Sarah Rosenbaum, Margaret Kaseje, Laetitia Nyirazinyoye, Atle Fretheim, Iain Chalmers, Andrew D Oxman and 1 more

Open access · goldAbstract readRandomized Controlled TrialVideo-Audio Media
In one paragraph

Trial report in Trials, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
4.9field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. Trial
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 6 institutions in 5 countries.

Daniel SemakulaMakerere University College of Health Sciences, New Mulago Hospital Complex, Clinical Research Building, Level 4, PO Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda. semakuladaniel@gmail.com.ORCID 0000-0002-0806-213X
Allen NsangiMakerere University College of Health Sciences, New Mulago Hospital Complex, Clinical Research Building, Level 4, PO Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda.
Matt OxmanNorwegian Institute of Public Health, Nydalen, PO Box 4404, N-0403, Oslo, Norway.
Astrid Austvoll-DahlgrenNorwegian Institute of Public Health, Nydalen, PO Box 4404, N-0403, Oslo, Norway.
Sarah RosenbaumNorwegian Institute of Public Health, Nydalen, PO Box 4404, N-0403, Oslo, Norway.
Margaret KasejeGreat Lakes University of Kisumu, PO Box 2224-40100, Kisumu, Kenya.
Laetitia NyirazinyoyeUniversity of Rwanda, 101, KK 19 Av., University Avenue, PO Box: 5229, Kigali, Rwanda.
Atle FretheimNorwegian Institute of Public Health, Nydalen, PO Box 4404, N-0403, Oslo, Norway.
Iain ChalmersJames Lind Initiative, Summertown Pavilion, Middle Way, Oxford, OX2 7LG, UK.
Andrew D OxmanNorwegian Institute of Public Health, Nydalen, PO Box 4404, N-0403, Oslo, Norway.
Nelson K SewankamboMakerere University College of Health Sciences, New Mulago Hospital Complex, Clinical Research Building, Level 4, PO Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda.
Norwegian Institute of Public Health · NOUniversity of Oslo · NOGreat Lakes University of Kisumu · KEMulago Hospital · UGRoyal Pavilion · GBUniversity of Rwanda · RW

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundClaims made about the effects of treatments are very common in the media and in the population more generally. The ability of individuals to understand and assess such claims can affect their decisions and health outcomes. Many people in both low- and high-income countries have inadequate aptitude to assess information about the effects of treatments. As part of the Informed Healthcare Choices project, we have prepared a series of podcast episodes to help improve people's ability to assess claims made about treatment effects. We will evaluate the effect of the Informed Healthcare Choices podcast on people's ability to assess claims made about the benefits and harms of treatments. Our study population will be parents of primary school children in schools with limited educational and financial resources in Uganda.

methodsThis will be a two-arm, parallel-group, individual-randomised trial. We will randomly allocate consenting participants who meet the inclusion criteria for the trial to either listen to nine episodes of the Informed Healthcare Choices podcast (intervention) or to listen to nine typical public service announcements about health issues (control). Each podcast includes a story about a treatment claim, a message about one key concept that we believe is important for people to be able to understand to assess treatment claims, an explanation of how that concept applies to the claim, and a second example illustrating the concept. We designed the Claim Evaluation Tools to measure people's ability to apply key concepts related to assessing claims made about the effects of treatments and making informed health care choices. The Claim Evaluation Tools that we will use include multiple-choice questions addressing each of the nine concepts covered by the podcast. Using the Claim Evaluation Tools, we will measure two primary outcomes: (1) the proportion that 'pass', based on an absolute standard and (2) the average score. DISCUSSION: As far as we are aware this is the first randomised trial to assess the use of mass media to promote understanding of the key concepts needed to judge claims made about the effects of treatments.

trial registrationPan African Clinical Trials Registry, PACTR201606001676150. Registered on 12 June 2016. http://www.pactr.org/ATMWeb/appmanager/atm/atmregistry?dar=true&tNo=PACTR201606001676150 .

Indexed as

Health Knowledge, Attitudes, PracticeMass MediaChildChoice BehaviorComprehensionEducational StatusEvidence-Based MedicineHealth EducationHealth LiteracyHumansIncomeParentsResearch DesignRisk AssessmentRisk FactorsSchoolsCritical appraisalCritical thinkingEBM teaching resourcesEvidence-based health careHealth literacyHigher order thinkingMeta-cognitionPrimary school curriculumScience teachingTreatment claims

Identifiers

PMID28109313
PMCPMC5251251
OpenAlexW2577368795

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.