Previously, as part of the Informed Health Choices (IHC) project (www.informedhealthchoices.org), we developed learning resources for primary school children in Uganda and their parents/guardians, based on a framework of concepts that people should understand and apply to assess healthcare claims and make informed choices, named the IHC Key Concepts. The primary school resources were a set of printed materials: a textbook and a workbook for children, a teachers’ guide, a set of cards for one of the lessons, and a classroom poster. For the parents/guardians, we created a podcast.
Randomised trials in Uganda, conducted in 120 schools with over 10,000 children, showed that use of these learning resources, together with an initial teacher training workshop, resulted in a large improvement in the ability of children, teachers, and parents to assess treatment (health intervention) claims. Follow-up data show that the learning was retained by the children for at least one year,(8) while the performance of the parents/guardians who received the intervention declined.
Alongside the trials, we undertook process evaluations to explore barriers and facilitators for scaling up use of the learning resources, potential adverse effects, and potential additional benefits (see Appendix 1).Currently, over 20 teams in other countries are translating or adapting IHC resources for their context.