[Presence of current child and adolescent health priorities in school textbooks].

Background: Textbooks are an educational tool for learning health habits. The aim of this study was to determine how these textbooks present the health priorities defined by health organizations to children and teenagers.

Method: We performed a descriptive study in 3 steps: a) the priorities defined by health organizations were identified; b) the messages on health in the textbooks used in the schools of a municipality were identified, and c) the extent to which these messages fitted the priorities established was analyzed.

Results: The World Health Organization, the European Union, the Spanish Ministry of Health and Consumption, and the Spanish Society of Public Health and Healthcare Administration define 24 priorities. One hundred textbooks were collected, with 663 health messages. The priorities most frequently covered in the textbooks were diet, physical exercise and the impact of environmental contamination. The least frequently covered topics was bullying, child maltreatment, poverty, self harm, and obesity. The latter topic was especially lacking in kindergartens and elementary schools.

Conclusions: The health messages contained in school textbooks are not well adapted to the priorities defined by health organizations.