Designing a model of health literacy curriculum in elementary school (grounded theory)

Subject Areas : Curriculum Research

Najmeh Jafari Rozbahani ¹ (PhD student of Curriculum Planning, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran)
Alireza Araghieh ² (Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Eslamshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Eslamshahr, Iran)
Alireza Assareh ³ (Professor of curriculum studies, Faculty of human sciences, Shahid Rajaei University)
Hamid Moghaddasi ⁴ (Professor of Information Management and Medical Informatics, Department of Health Information Technology, Faculty of Paramedicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.)

Received: 2023-10-01 Accepted : 2023-10-01 Published : 2023-04-01

Keywords: elementary school, Curriculum, health literacy,

Abstract :

The current research aimed to provide a curriculum model for health literacy in primary school. The research method was qualitative and grounded theory type. The data were collected through 20 semi-structured interviews of selected experts and elites with purposeful sampling and were coded and analyzed in three stages. A model including 5 dimensions, 12 main categories, and 26 sub-categories was presented and validated by members' check. The sub-themes that came under the causal conditions were: health-oriented society, change in lifestyle, industrialization of society, the emergence of various physical and mental diseases in society, movement from traditional literacy to modern literacy, attention to multiple knowledge, and decay of knowledge. The sub-themes that came under the underlying conditions were: involvement in health problems and students' need for information, parents' demand to provide health-related information and knowledge to students, teachers' demand to develop health-related knowledge in students, the needs of various institutions and organizations to equip students with up to date information and knowledge in the field of health. . The consequences were: improvement of personal health, promotion of healthy lifestyle, increase of health level in the society, reduction of costs caused by physical and mental diseases, encouragement to acquire knowledge in the field of health, reduction of intellectual poverty of children in connection with diseases. An inclusive curriculum covering all the contextual, environmental, technical, and informational dimensions of health literacy was also identified as a central category.