MEST : A School- Based Health Literacy Intervention Trial
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: MEST Work Strategy.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Health Literacy, Adolescent Health. Basic parameters: 16 years — 24 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Norway
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
A Cluster- Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating the MEST Work Strategy to Improve Health Literacy Among Upper Secondary School Students
Overview
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the MEST work strategy in upper secondary schools. MEST is a school based, health promoting intervention delivered by school health services and designed to strengthen students' health literacy and mental well being. The study assesses whether implementation of the MEST work strategy results in improved health literacy and mental well being compared with usual school health services. This study is a cluster randomized superiority trial in which upper secondary schools are assigned either to an intervention group implementing the MEST work strategy or to a control group continuing with school health services as usual. Student reported outcomes are collected using digitally administered questionnaires during school hours at baseline, prior to initiation of the intervention, and at 4 and 9 months following intervention initiation (end of the school year).
Detailed description
This study is a cluster randomized controlled trial conducted in upper secondary schools, with schools serving as the unit of randomization to minimize contamination between students. A matched pair allocation design is used to ensure balance between trial arms. The anticipated enrollment is 12 schools (clusters).
Simulation based power analyses indicated that the primary analytic models yielded approximately 0.62-0.72 power to detect an effect size of d = 0.30 and were generally close to or exceeded 0.80 when the post test effect size was larger (d = 0.40).
The MEST work strategy is implemented during regular school hours by school health services and is designed to enhance students' ability to access, understand, evaluate, and apply health related information, with a specific focus on health literacy and mental well being. Data are collected using digitally administered questionnaires at baseline (T0), 4 months (T1), and 9 months (T2) following initiation of the intervention.
The primary outcome is general health literacy. Secondary outcomes include mental health literacy and mental well being. Prespecified secondary subgroup/moderator analyses will examine potential effect modification by gender, socioeconomic status, and minority, Indigenous, or immigrant background. Additional exploratory analyses will assess whether the dose of the MEST work strategy delivered is associated with outcomes. Outcome data are reported by students, while information on intervention dose is obtained from the school health services.
Interventions
- Other MEST Work Strategy
The MEST work strategy is needs based and adaptive. An anonymous, digitally administered MEST survey conducted prior to intervention initiation informs the selection and tailoring of intervention topics throughout the school year. This survey is used solely to guide intervention delivery and is not included in the outcome evaluation. Intervention activities may include classroom based sessions, school wide seminars, small thematic group activities, and individual consultations provided by the sc
Primary outcome measures
- General Health Literacy [Time frame: Baseline, 4 months, 9 months]
Secondary outcome measures (2)
- Mental Health Literacy [Time frame: Baseline, 4 months, 9 months]
- Mental Well-Being [Time frame: Baseline, 4 months, 9 months]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Students 16-24 years
- Students enrolled in upper secondary school classes
- Provided informed consent
Exclusion criteria
\- Students <16 years and > 24 years
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Single blind
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
Study locations
Norway · 1 center
- Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) — Levanger
Publications
- Bjornsen HN, Ringdal R, Espnes GA, Eilertsen MB, Moksnes UK. Exploring MEST: a new universal teaching strategy for school health services to promote positive mental health literacy and mental wellbeing among Norwegian adolescents. BMC Health Serv Res. 2018 Dec 29;18(1):1001. doi: 10.1186/s12913-018-3829-8. PMID 30594201
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07601815 · SDAM_FOR555624 /NIPH 6107-6107