Diabetes in secondary education biology textbooks in Greece

Abstract

Background/objectives:

Considering the significance of health education in tackling non-communicable diseases, the fact that research shows that students express an inadequate understanding of diabetes and ways to prevent it, and the fact that the proportional mortality of diabetes in Greece is 1%, we decided to investigate how diabetes is portrayed in secondary education biology textbooks in Greece.

Methods:

Six biology textbooks currently used in Greek secondary education were examined. All paragraphs mentioning diabetes were coded by the first two authors in non-mutually exclusive, data-driven categories derived through open coding. The coding scheme consisted of seven categories: diseases induced by diabetes, epidemiology, insulin production, physiology, prevention, symptoms, and treatment.

Results:

The results showed that in most cases, diabetes is mentioned for discussing the production of insulin either by extracting it from the pancreas of animals such as pigs or by means of biotechnology. The symptoms of diabetes along with the physiology and treatment of diabetes are mentioned a few times. On the other hand, the diseases and health conditions induced by diabetes along with the epidemiology and prevention of diabetes are mentioned only once.

Conclusion:

Our findings indicate that Greek secondary education biology textbooks primarily present diabetes as a case study to highlight laboratory achievements in insulin production and the applications of biotechnology, while coverage of epidemiology, long-term complications, and prevention remains limited. We argue that textbooks should focus on socio-scientific dimensions of diabetes in order to better support students to make informed decisions about managing their own health in daily life.