Abstract

The indicators for health risk factors among school children in Lebanon associated with increased mortality and morbidity were higher than the global percentage based on WHO (2014) statistics. Knowing that the Ministry of Education in Lebanon has been trying to include health education in the national school curriculum since the last reform in 1997, this qualitative exploratory study analyzed the students’ arguments resulting from focus group discussions to identify their level of knowledge, attitudes and perceptions and to provide suggestions for improving the national textbooks and teaching practices. Data were collected through focus group discussions with grade 5 students in 2 schools: Lebanese public school and UNRWA Palestinian School. The content analysis technique was used to perform the analysis and interpretation of data. Data was coded based on criteria from the Rational Model as well as the Health Belief Model. The study found, among other things, that students in both schools acquired the knowledge present in the textbooks about the benefits of balanced nutrition but they gave inaccurate and incomplete justifications with no scientific reasoning. Regarding attitudes, they show negative attitudes toward prefer unhealthy food over healthy ones. Some of their practices were healthy but unhealthy snacks, skipping breakfast, drinking big amounts of soft drinks were prevalent. The arguments of the students in both schools also showed some social related practices as related to the opinions, behavior, advice, and support of the people surrounding students influence their feelings and behavior, and the students have a reciprocal effect on those people.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.