A review of the contents about childhood health care in middle & high school textbooks / 소아과

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to investigate the material in middle school and high school textbooks covering child care and children's health for medically inaccurate content and to make sure that the correct information is given to students. METHODS: We have examined 47 kinds of textbooks on the subjects 'Home economics' and 'Technology and home economics' published in 2007 to find out how much importance is placed on children's health and childcare and to search for incorrect definitions, inaccurate facts or insufficient explanations. We have also analyzed the credentials of the writers of these textbooks. RESULTS: Textbooks of middle school cover psychological and physical changes during adolescence and nutrition, and those of high school cover marriage and childcare. These materials covering health made up 27.5%, 11.7% of middle & high school texts. Age definitions of neonate and infant were incorrect. Inaccurate facts were mostly about fontanelles, primitive reflexes, breastfeeding and weaning. There also were wrong informations on the umbilical cord care and developmental milestones during infancy. The childhood immunization schedules and the growth curves were not up to date. Most of the authors major in home economics and the others were school teachers. There was no evidence of any review by a medical society or an expert. CONCLUSIONS: When writing about children's health and childcare in textbooks, a board-certified pediatrician or The Korean Pediatric Society should be consulted to provide accurate medical information to middle and high school students.

The monitoring Case Analysis of Nutrition-related Programs Presented on Television Broadcast Media

The purpose of this study was to analyze information about food and nutrition topics presented throughout the television broadcast media, thereby suggest the optimal communication method to give right information to the general public. To perform this study, total sixteen monitoring people were recruited and trained through monitoring practice before and during the study. Five domestic TV channels were selected to be monitored, for six months. For the best efficiency, all the monitoring people were divided into 8 teams based on the regional consideration. The statistical analysis of data was completed using SAS program. The main results of this study are as follows. First, the total reporting cases of information about foods and nutrition were 237 , among which about 30% was classified as appropriate and 70% as inappropriate based on the trained monitors' evaluation. Second, the analysis of contents about incorrect informations showed that the insufficient descriptions of terminology and contents were the highest. And insufficient scientific evidences, incorrect contents excessively entertainment-oriented, no provision of alternatives , improper selection of expert advisors were followed. These results suggest that systematical monitoring should be continued to reduce the frequency of incorrect communication thereby give the right information in food and nutrition area to the general public. And there should be a closely cooperated system to provide the professional information to broadcasting production team by establishing the strategic program. In order to do that, most importantly the advisory team should be organized to professionally connect mass media to corresponding specialists. In addition, more educational programs about food and nutrition should be developed to provide right information to the general public.

The monitoring Case Analysis of Nutrition-related Programs Presented on Television Broadcast Media

The purpose of this study was to analyze information about food and nutrition topics presented throughout the television broadcast media, thereby suggest the optimal communication method to give right information to the general public. To perform this study, total sixteen monitoring people were recruited and trained through monitoring practice before and during the study. Five domestic TV channels were selected to be monitored, for six months. For the best efficiency, all the monitoring people were divided into 8 teams based on the regional consideration. The statistical analysis of data was completed using SAS program. The main results of this study are as follows. First, the total reporting cases of information about foods and nutrition were 237 , among which about 30% was classified as appropriate and 70% as inappropriate based on the trained monitors' evaluation. Second, the analysis of contents about incorrect informations showed that the insufficient descriptions of terminology and contents were the highest. And insufficient scientific evidences, incorrect contents excessively entertainment-oriented, no provision of alternatives , improper selection of expert advisors were followed. These results suggest that systematical monitoring should be continued to reduce the frequency of incorrect communication thereby give the right information in food and nutrition area to the general public. And there should be a closely cooperated system to provide the professional information to broadcasting production team by establishing the strategic program. In order to do that, most importantly the advisory team should be organized to professionally connect mass media to corresponding specialists. In addition, more educational programs about food and nutrition should be developed to provide right information to the general public.