College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda; University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Centre for Informed Health Choices, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Lancet. 2017 Jul 22;390(10092):389-398. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31225-4. Epub 2017 May 22.
As part of the Informed Health Choices project, we developed a podcast called The Health Choices Programme to help improve the ability of people to assess claims about the benefits and harms of treatments. We aimed to evaluate the effects of the podcast on the ability of parents of primary school children in Uganda to assess claims about the effects of treatments.
We did this randomised controlled trial in central Uganda. We recruited parents of children aged 10-12 years who were in their fifth year of school at 35 schools that were participating in a linked trial of the Informed Health Choices primary school resources. The parents were randomly allocated (1:1), via a web-based random number generator with block sizes of four and six, to listen to either the Informed Health Choices podcast (intervention group) or typical public service announcements about health issues (control group). Randomisation was stratified by parents' highest level of formal education attained (primary school, secondary school, or tertiary education) and the allocation of their children's school in the trial of the primary school resources (intervention vs control). The primary outcome, measured after listening to the entire podcast, was the mean score and the proportion of parents with passing scores on a test with two multiple choice questions for each of nine key concepts essential to assessing claims about treatments (18 questions in total). We did intention-to-treat analyses. This trial is registered with the Pan African Clinical Trial Registry, number PACTR201606001676150.
We recruited parents between July 21, 2016, and Oct 7, 2016. We randomly assigned 675 parents to the podcast group (n=334) or the public service announcement group (n=341); 561 (83%) participants completed follow-up. The mean score for parents in the podcast group was 67·8% (SD 19·6) compared with 52·4% (17·6) in the control group (adjusted mean difference 15·5%, 95% CI 12·5-18·6; p<0·0001). In the podcast group, 203 (71%) of 288 parents had a predetermined passing score (≥11 of 18 correct answers) compared with 103 (38%) of 273 parents in the control group (adjusted difference 34%, 95% CI 26-41; p<0·0001). No adverse events were reported.
Listening to the Informed Health Choices podcast led to a large improvement in the ability of parents to assess claims about the effects of treatments. Future studies should assess the long-term effects of use of the podcast, the effects on actual health choices and outcomes, and how transferable our findings are to other countries.
Research Council of Norway.
作为知情健康选择项目的一部分，我们制作了一个名为《健康选择计划》的播客，旨在帮助提高人们评估治疗益处和危害的能力。我们旨在评估播客对乌干达小学儿童家长评估治疗效果的能力的影响。
我们在乌干达中部进行了这项随机对照试验。我们招募了正在读五年级的 10-12 岁儿童的家长，这些儿童来自参与知情健康选择小学资源相关联试验的 35 所学校。家长们通过基于网络的随机数字发生器进行随机分配（1:1），分组块大小为四和六，随机分为收听知情健康选择播客（干预组）或关于健康问题的典型公共服务公告（对照组）。随机分配根据家长接受的最高正规教育程度（小学、中学或高等教育）和小学资源试验中他们孩子所在学校的分配情况进行分层（干预组与对照组）。主要结局是在听完整个播客后，对评估治疗效果的九个关键概念中的每一个概念的两个多项选择题的总分数和通过测试的家长比例（总共 18 个问题）。我们进行了意向治疗分析。该试验在泛非临床试验注册中心注册，编号为 PACTR201606001676150。
我们于 2016 年 7 月 21 日至 10 月 7 日期间招募家长。我们随机将 675 名家长分配到播客组（n=334）或公共服务公告组（n=341）；561 名（83%）参与者完成了随访。播客组家长的平均得分为 67.8%（标准差 19.6），而对照组为 52.4%（17.6）（调整后的平均差异为 15.5%，95%CI 12.5-18.6；p<0.0001）。在播客组中，288 名家长中有 203 名（71%）达到了预定的及格分数（18 个正确答案中至少答对 11 个），而对照组 273 名家长中有 103 名（38%）达到了及格分数（调整后的差异为 34%，95%CI 26-41；p<0.0001）。没有报告不良事件。
收听知情健康选择播客大大提高了家长评估治疗效果的能力。未来的研究应该评估使用播客的长期效果、对实际健康选择和结果的影响，以及我们的发现对其他国家的可转移性。
挪威研究理事会。
