Abstract:
Introduction: Primary schools children are capable of understanding some of the key concepts
needed to recognize unreliable claims and how to make informed choices about their health. The
Informed Health Choices (IHC) project was designed to develop and test these learning
resources for primary schools aim to teach children some of these skills. This study objectives
are threefold: i) to explore the user experience of the IHC primary school resources among
children and the teacher of primary five in Kinyarwanda; ii) to identify barriers and facilitators of
the IHC school resources in Rwandan context for effective use; and iii) to incorporate users‟
recommendations that can inform the next reiteration of these resources in the next development
cycle (Version 3).
Methods: The study used qualitative methods to explore user‟s experiences (i.e. pupils aged 9-
17 (7 girls and 20 boys) and teacher (1)) and their perspectives about IHC resources in
Kinyarwanda. The study used a convenient sampling strategy to select a school and purposive
sampling to select children and the teacher. For each of the IHC school resources of 9 lessons,
the researcher conducted non-participatory observation of the lesson with at least two observers,
a user-test interview with the teacher and a focus group discussion with three children. The
content analysis of users‟ experiences was conducted using modified honeycomb framework:
usefulness, usability, credibility, identification, understandable and desirability.
Results: In the first objective, the study found that the user experience was appropriate since
their assessment indicated usefulness, identification, usability, credibility, understandability and
desirability of the IHC resources. In the second objective, the barrier to the IHC material was
time constraint while the facilitators included curiosity and positive attitude towards the IHC
materials. In the third objective, both the pupils and the teacher suggested that the IHC material
be distributed to other pupils in other schools so they can also benefit from the teachings and
importance of making informed health choices.
Conclusion: Methods used in this study could be of value for evaluating other educational
resources in Rwanda. The researcher suggests changes that could improve the learning resources
for use in Rwanda.
