Factors influencing teachers’ views of health and health education : a study in 15 countries

Abstract

To analyse teachers’ health views in order to obtain general trends of factors influencing health and health education and to fit them into the Negative-Positive model of health proposed by Downie and collaborators. METHODOLOGY: This large international study involved 15 countries from Western and Eastern Europe, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and South America, with high socioeconomic and cultural diversity. The questionnaire constructed and validated by the European FP6 project BIOHEAD-CITIZEN was applied in each country to a balanced sample of pre-service teachers (Pre) and in-service teachers (In) of primary school (P), and of secondary school, teaching Biology (B) or national Language (L). FINDINGS: Women, older persons, those having longer higher university education, primary school teachers (compared to secondary teachers) and language teachers (compared to biology teachers) have a more positive view of health. The major difference was found between countries, rather than religion, where five groups emerged from cluster analysis. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The study does not lead to a comprehensive view of the factors influencing teachers’ perception of health but results showed that there is a variety of variables associated with health and health education views. These findings can contribute to facilitate developing appropriate specific health education teachers’ training courses.