Limited potential of school textbooks to prevent tobacco use among students grade 1-9 across multiple developing countries: A content analysis study

1Citations
Citations of this article
32Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the content of school textbooks as a tool to prevent tobacco use in developing countries. Design: Content analysis was used to evaluate if the textbooks incorporated the following five core components recommended by the WHO: (1) consequences of tobacco use; (2) social norms; (3) reasons to use tobacco; (4) social influences and (5) resistance and life skills. Setting: Nine developing countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Benin, Ghana, Niger and Zambia. Textbooks analysed: Of 474 textbooks for primary and junior secondary schools in nine developing countries, 41 were selected which contained descriptions about tobacco use prevention. Results: Of the 41 textbooks, the consequences of tobacco use component was covered in 30 textbooks (73.2%) and the social norms component was covered in 19 (46.3%). The other three components were described in less than 20% of the textbooks. Conclusions: A rather limited number of school textbooks in developing countries contained descriptions of prevention of tobacco use, but they did not fully cover the core components for tobacco use prevention. The chance of tobacco prevention education should be seized by improving the content of school textbooks.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Saito, J., Nonaka, D., Mizoue, T., Kobayashi, J., Jayatilleke, A. C., Shrestha, S., … Jimba, M. (2013). Limited potential of school textbooks to prevent tobacco use among students grade 1-9 across multiple developing countries: A content analysis study. BMJ Open, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002340

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free