Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40011888›Full record

Trial reportTrials2025

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.

Ronald Ssenyonga, Andrew D Oxman, Esther Nakyejwe, Faith Chesire, Michael Mugisha, Allen Nsangi, Matt Oxman, Christopher James Rose, Sarah E Rosenbaum, Jenny Moberg and 5 more

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Trials, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
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

15 authors.

Ronald SsenyongaDepartment of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. rssenyonga@musph.ac.ug.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2409-3593
Andrew D OxmanCentre for Epidemic Interventions Research, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Esther NakyejweDepartment of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Faith ChesireInstitute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Michael MugishaInstitute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Allen NsangiDepartment of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Matt OxmanCentre for Epidemic Interventions Research, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Christopher James RoseCentre for Epidemic Interventions Research, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Sarah E RosenbaumCentre for Epidemic Interventions Research, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Jenny MobergCentre for Epidemic Interventions Research, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Margaret KasejeTropical Institute of Community Health and Development in Africa, Kisumu, Kenya.
Laetitia NyirazinyoyeSchool of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda.
Astrid DahlgrenFaculty of Health Sciences, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway.
Simon LewinCentre for Epidemic Interventions Research, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Nelson K SewankamboDepartment of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionWe 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.

methodsWe 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.

resultsAfter 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).

conclusionsThe effect of the IHC secondary school intervention on students' ability to assess health-related claims was largely sustained for at least 1 year.

trial registrationPan African Clinical Trial Registry PACTR202204861458660. Registered on 4 April 2022.

Indexed as

Adolescent BehaviorChoice BehaviorHealth EducationHealth Knowledge, Attitudes, PracticeSchool Health ServicesStudentsThinkingAdolescentFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansMaleSchoolsTime FactorsUgandaCritical health literacyCritical thinkingRandomized trialSecondary schoolTeaching and learning resources

Identifiers

PMID40011888
PMCPMC11863962

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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.