Hypothesis
An online video game teaching Dutch schoolchildren about ticks and Lyme disease would improve knowledge, risk perception and tick-checking behaviour more than a leaflet or no intervention.
What failed
In a cluster-randomised study of 887 children aged 9-13 from 25 schools, knowledge rose in all three arms including the control, with no significant difference between interventions. Tick-checking rose in the game arm and beat the leaflet, but not by more than in the control group; overall the game did not outperform the leaflet or control on all outcomes.
Broken assumption
An interactive game teaches children health-protective knowledge better than passive materials, over and above the effect of being asked about the topic.
Why
The authors attribute the knowledge gain in the control group to a measurement effect from simply completing the questionnaire.
From the published paper: Beaujean et al. BMC Public Health, 2016. ↗CC BY