Abstract
BackgroundMost textbooks contains messages relating to health. This profuse information requires analysis with regards to the quality of such information. The objective was to identify the scientific evidence on which the health messages in textbooks are based.MethodsThe degree of evidence on which such messages are based was identified and the messages were subsequently classified into three categories: Messages with high, medium or low levels of evidence; Messages with an unknown level of evidence; and Messages with no known evidence.Results844 messages were studied. Of this total, 61% were classified as messages with an unknown level of evidence. Less than 15% fell into the category where the level of evidence was known and less than 6% were classified as possessing high levels of evidence. More than 70% of the messages relating to "Balanced Diets and Malnutrition", "Food Hygiene", "Tobacco", "Sexual behaviour and AIDS" and "Rest and ergonomics" are based on an unknown level of evidence. "Oral health" registered the highest percentage of messages based on a high level of evidence (37.5%), followed by "Pregnancy and newly born infants" (35%). Of the total, 24.6% are not based on any known evidence. Two of the messages appeared to contravene known evidence.ConclusionMany of the messages included in school textbooks are not based on scientific evidence. Standards must be established to facilitate the production of texts that include messages that are based on the best available evidence and which can improve children's health more effectively.
Highlights
Quality of health education in the School Health education forms a part of the compulsory education curriculum in Spain, either as explicit content within a given area of knowledge or as supplementary content in any area or didactic act [1]
From the results obtained via the Trip Database (TD), we only considered those documents containing information that was classified in terms of evidence, such as clinical practice guides and systematic reviews
Subsequent to the elimination of messages that did not meet the criteria for inclusion, 844 were studied
Summary
Quality of health education in the School Health education forms a part of the compulsory education curriculum in Spain, either as explicit content within a given area of knowledge or as supplementary content in any area or didactic act [1]. In order to encourage development in this area, with regards to both explicit and supplementary health education, various didactic methodologies have been promoted, which are more unidirectional in the first instance, and more participative and interactive in the second instance [2] This two-fold approach to health education, in the case of supplementary education, has given rise to a situation wherein practically all textbooks contain messages relating to health, irrespective of their subject that is targeted by these messages and their importance in improving health awareness and healthy behaviour amongst children, we must ensure that these messages are based on the best available evidence derived from reliable scientific studies. Scientific evidence in the health messages in textbooks Evidence-based Medicine (EBM) is a process for the critical evaluation and incorporation of scientific discoveries into the decision-making process within the healthcare sector This process can be applied to any type of health-related action: diagnosis, therapy or preventative measures [8]. The objective was to identify the scientific evidence on which the health messages in textbooks are based
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