Oral health information in the Science, Tamil, and English samacheer textbooks of upper primary and secondary schools in Tamilnadu – A content analysis

Abstract

BackgroundHealth education through school textbooks is effective in promoting knowledge, reforming, and improving health related behaviors among children. The study evaluated the amount of oral health information, readability and quality of contents in upper primary and secondary school samacheer textbooks, Tamilnadu. MethodsContent analysis for the text books of 6 to 10th standard tamil medium samacheer syllabus were analysed by three examiners on the major health topics covered under Science, English and Tamil subjects. The contents were also assessed for the simplicity of the language using Flesch- Readability Ease (RE) Index. ResultsThe results showed that the amount of oral health information given in the Science textbook was more than English and Tamil. In science, more amount of contents were found in the 9th standard textbooks, under the topic Tobacco and Oral diseases than others. The information was accurate (100%) mostly in the form of text (60.8%); they were very hard to understand (RE Score=14.03). ConclusionsThe potential of secondary school textbooks in delivering oral health messages is very little in samacheer school textbooks. Considering the critical importance of school students’ age into account, incorporating health information in textbooks should be more strongly emphasized.