Does the use of the Informed Health Choices teaching resources improve the secondary students’ ability to critically think about health in Uganda? A cluster randomized trial protocol

INTERVENTION: Be smart about your health Teaching the national standard curriculum CONDITION: ; Critical thinking about health. All the treatments for all conditions/illnesses we experience Critical thinking about health. All the treatments for all conditions/illnesses we experience PRIMARY OUTCOME: The primary outcome measure is the proportion of children with a passing score on the Critical Thinking about Health Test. SECONDARY OUTCOME: • mean score (percentage of correct answers) on the evaluation tool used to measure the students’ ability to apply the key concepts addressed by the intervention ; • proportion of students with a score indicating mastery of the concepts ; • proportion of students who answer both questions correctly for each of the nine concepts ; • students’ intended behaviours and self‐efficacy measured using questions added on the Critical Thinking about Health Test. ; • self‐reported behaviours ; • overall academic performance in O‐level compulsory subjects: biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, english, history & political education, and geography. This will be collected for the term prior to the when the intervention is delivered, at the end of the term after the intervention de‐livery and at one year after the intervention delivery. ; • proportion of teachers with a passing score, their mean score, and the proportion with a score indicating mastery of the concepts using the same evaluation tool used to measure the students’ ability to apply the key concepts addressed by the intervention INCLUSION CRITERIA: We will include secondary schools that have a lower (ordinary) level section that teaches the national curriculum. Only schools for which the head teacher and teachers provide written consent to participate and own a smart phone will be included in the trial.