Quantitative and qualitative analysis of nutrition and food safety information in school science textbooks of India

Objective: To assess quantity and quality of nutrition and food safety information in science textbooks prescribed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), India for grades I through X. Design: Content analysis. Methods: A coding scheme was developed for quantitative and qualitative analy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health education journal Vol. 71; no. 6; pp. 725 - 735
Main Authors: Subba Rao, GM, Vijayapushapm, T, Venkaiah, K, Pavarala, V
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.11.2012
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects:
Adolescents
Biology
Coding
Content Analysis
Curricula
Education
Food
Food labeling
Food safety
Food Standards
Foreign Countries
Health education
Healthy food
India
Inferences
Internet
Labelling
Labels
Nutrition
Nutrition education
Nutrition Instruction
Obesity
Qualitative analysis
Qualitative research
Quantitative analysis
Reliability
Safety
School meals
Schools
Science
Science Instruction
Secondary Education
Statistical Analysis
Textbook Content
Textbooks
Topics
India
food safety
nutrition education
school curricula
content analysis
ISSN:0017-8969, 1748-8176
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Objective: To assess quantity and quality of nutrition and food safety information in science textbooks prescribed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), India for grades I through X. Design: Content analysis. Methods: A coding scheme was developed for quantitative and qualitative analyses. Two investigators independently coded the data and inter-coder reliability was assessed using Cohen’s Kappa. The inferences were then reviewed by an expert group. Results: There was high agreement (Kappa = 0.89) between coders. Nutrition topics got > 10% pages in textbooks of grades I to VII, while they were omitted in subsequent grades. Food safety got a mere 1% of page allocation only in grades I to III books. Over 25% of biology illustrations related to nutrition in grades I, II and IV but not in others. Nutrition topics in textbooks beyond grade IV were repetitive and inconsistent. Some illustrations depicted uncommon foods and had urban bias. Conclusions: Nutrition and food safety content in science textbooks is low. Important topics such as nutritional needs during adolescence, obesity, unhealthy foods and food labelling are not covered. These findings provide direction for strengthening textbook content to promote nutrition education in schools.
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ISSN:0017-8969
1748-8176
DOI:10.1177/0017896911422783