Table 3 Comparisons related to self-reported behaviours in the 1-year follow-up

How often do you hear treatment claims?

Children in the intervention group will report hearing treatment claims more often because of being more aware of treatment claims and identifying them when they are made.

[For the last treatment claim that you heard,] did you think about what that treatment claim that you heard was based on?

A larger proportion of children in the intervention group will answer yes because of being more aware that many claims do not have a reliable basis.

How sure are you that the treatment claim you heard is true or can be trusted?

A smaller proportion of children in the intervention group will answer ‘very sure’ or ‘I don’t know’, and a larger proportion of children in the intervention group will answer this question consistently with their answer to the preceding question about the basis of the claim (Table 5) because of being better able to assess the trustworthiness of claims and many claims not having a reliable basis.

How sure are you about the advantages and disadvantages of the [most recent] treatment you used?

A higher proportion of the children in the intervention group will answer ‘not very sure because I only know about the advantages’, and a smaller proportion will answer ‘very sure’, because information about the disadvantages of treatments is often lacking. However, this difference, if there is one, will likely be small, because children in the intervention group are more likely to consider and seek information about the disadvantages of treatments.

Who do you think should decide for you whether you should use a treatment or not use a treatment?

A higher proportion of the children in the intervention group will answer that they want to be included (A, C, D, F or G) because of having learned about how to make informed health choices; and that someone who knows a lot about treatments should be included (E, F or G), because of being more aware of the importance of assessing the reliability of evidence of effects and the skills that are needed to do this. However, this difference, if there is one, will likely be small, because children in the intervention group are more likely to recognise that expert opinion alone is not a reliable basis for a claim about treatment effects.

What happens if the claim that comes in is about negative effects of the treatment?

A larger proportion of children in the intervention group will answer, ‘Not very sure because there was not a good reason behind the claims about the advantages of the treatment’, because they are more likely to identify a claim whose basis was bad.

Given your thoughts about the basis of the claim, what did you yourself decide to do about the treatment?

A smaller proportion of children in the intervention group versus the control group would choose to use a treatment (in question 29.7) having recognised that the basis of the claim was untrustworthy (in question 29.6)