Article type
Abstract
"Background: While Polish educational system scores relatively high in PISA test (2022), our previous studies of the national curriculum and educational practices within LIGHT project suggest that the system fail to enhance competences related to critical thinking (CT) on health.
Objectives: 1) To establish to what extent pupils are able to assess trustworthiness of health claims and make well-informed choices; 2) To identify which health claims are the most challenging for pupils; 3) To explore the individual and school-related determinants of CT; 4) To formulate recommendations for an educational intervention.
Methods: We conducted a survey on a representative sample of pupils aged 12-15, employing CAWI technique. We used the adapted version of Claim Evaluation Tool (CET) to test pupils’ ability to respond to claims based on the Informed Health Choices (IHC) Key Concepts as well as the Health Literacy for School-Aged Children (HLSAC) to assess the subjective health literacy (HL). We additionally asked about pupils’ families’ socio-demographic status.
Results: We surveyed 2242 pupils, 64% of whom evaluated their HL as moderate and 21.8% as low. Out of 24 points in CET pupils achieved an average score of 13.04. Girls scored higher than boys (p<0.01) and older pupils higher than younger (p<0.002). The preliminary analysis of the pilot sample (N=303) suggests that the majority of pupils was able to critically respond to the claims reflecting the concepts that new treatments are not necessarily better than the alternatives (55% to 85.5% pupils correctly answered to the items illustrating this concept) and that competing interests may result in misleading conclusions (56.5% to 90%). Less pupils understood the concepts outlining that treatments known for decades are not necessarily more beneficial than others (30.7% to 48%) and explaining the relevant conditions for fair comparisons (17% to 45%). Our further analysis will focus on verifying whether individual and school-related factors determine CT level.
Conclusions: Exploring the determinants of pupils’ CT will inform our recommendations on how to most effectively educate on health and prepare pupils to critically cope with health claims.
Relevance to patients: Understanding pupils’ HL and CT will inform development of educational intervention. "
Objectives: 1) To establish to what extent pupils are able to assess trustworthiness of health claims and make well-informed choices; 2) To identify which health claims are the most challenging for pupils; 3) To explore the individual and school-related determinants of CT; 4) To formulate recommendations for an educational intervention.
Methods: We conducted a survey on a representative sample of pupils aged 12-15, employing CAWI technique. We used the adapted version of Claim Evaluation Tool (CET) to test pupils’ ability to respond to claims based on the Informed Health Choices (IHC) Key Concepts as well as the Health Literacy for School-Aged Children (HLSAC) to assess the subjective health literacy (HL). We additionally asked about pupils’ families’ socio-demographic status.
Results: We surveyed 2242 pupils, 64% of whom evaluated their HL as moderate and 21.8% as low. Out of 24 points in CET pupils achieved an average score of 13.04. Girls scored higher than boys (p<0.01) and older pupils higher than younger (p<0.002). The preliminary analysis of the pilot sample (N=303) suggests that the majority of pupils was able to critically respond to the claims reflecting the concepts that new treatments are not necessarily better than the alternatives (55% to 85.5% pupils correctly answered to the items illustrating this concept) and that competing interests may result in misleading conclusions (56.5% to 90%). Less pupils understood the concepts outlining that treatments known for decades are not necessarily more beneficial than others (30.7% to 48%) and explaining the relevant conditions for fair comparisons (17% to 45%). Our further analysis will focus on verifying whether individual and school-related factors determine CT level.
Conclusions: Exploring the determinants of pupils’ CT will inform our recommendations on how to most effectively educate on health and prepare pupils to critically cope with health claims.
Relevance to patients: Understanding pupils’ HL and CT will inform development of educational intervention. "