.jpg)
Due to copyright issues, an electronic copy of the thesis must be ordered from the faculty. For the faculty to have time to process the order, the order must be received by the faculty at the latest 2 days before the public defence. Orders received later than 2 days before the defence will not be processed. After the public defence, please address any inquiries regarding the thesis to the candidate.
Order a digital copy of the thesis here
Trial Lecture – time and place
See Trial Lecture.
Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Chief Specialist Scientist Catherine Mathews, South African Medical Research Council, South Africa
- Second opponent: Professor Shaun Treweek, University of Aberdeen, UK
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Professor Astrid Klopstad Wahl, Universitetet i Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Førsteamanuensis Lumbe Chola, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Andrew D. Oxman, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Summary
Daily, we are bombarded with massive amounts of claims about treatment effects, much of which is unreliable. Many people are unable to assess the reliability of such information. Believing and acting on unreliable health claims can cause unnecessary suffering and waste. To address this gap, the Informed Health Choices (IHC) project developed a digital educational intervention for teaching secondary school students to critically appraise health claims and make informed health choices.
Research objectives
The first objective was to explore how to develop learning resources that are practical for use in Kenyan secondary schools. The second objective aimed to evaluate the effect of the IHC secondary school intervention on students' ability to critically evaluate health claims and make informed choices. The third objective focused on exploring factors that facilitated or hindered the implementation of the intervention, as well as its potential for scaling up and the perceived benefits.
Methods
In our context analysis, we utilized a qualitative descriptive approach, which included interviews, school observations, and a review of key documents. To evaluate the effect of the IHC secondary school intervention on students' critical thinking and ability to assess health claims, we conducted a cluster-randomized trial involving 80 secondary schools in western Kenya. Alongside the trial, we performed a mixed-methods process evaluation, incorporating key informant interviews, focus group discussions, non-participatory lesson observations, training workshop evaluations, and teacher lesson evaluation.
Findings
The context analysis revealed that critical thinking about health was not included in the curriculum, and there was insufficient time in the timetable to teach it. Teachers and curriculum developers proposed integrating IHC concepts into nine existing subjects. The randomized trial results showed a significant improvement in students’ ability to evaluate health claims. The process evaluation found that most participants considered the resources valuable and relevant. However, the lack of inclusion in the national curriculum was identified as a major obstacle to scaling up the intervention.
Conclusion
Teaching students to think critically about health is achievable. However, to scale up the IHC secondary school intervention effectively, it will likely need to be incorporated into the national secondary school curriculum.
Additional information
Contact the research support staff.