Educação em saúde nos livros didáticos de ciências da natureza: um enfoque sobre doenças crônicas no contexto da biologia

Abstract

Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors, such as smoking, obesity, and inadequate diet, are a reality for the population, including schoolchildren, and represent one of the greatest public health challenges in Brazil. Health Education is an educational process included in public education policies that promotes the integration between curricular teaching and individual and collective health care. It is strongly associated with Science and Biology Education, especially in Basic Education, where textbooks serve as essential bibliographic support tools in the pedagogical process, enhancing student learning. However, the implementation of the New High School Reform has led to curricular changes that have impacted the structure of textbooks. Given the negative indicators of this reform, this study aimed to analyze how NCDs are addressed in the content of Biology textbooks recommended by the National Textbook Program (PNLD) for High School. To this end, a documental analysis was conducted on four textbook collections published by Moderna, totaling 24 volumes, along with content analysis to examine how NCD-related topics are presented in the books. The results revealed that NCDs were addressed across various volumes in all collections, but often in a fragmented and simplified manner. The contextualization of knowledge about chronic diseases and their social, cultural, and economic factors was limited, as were the images, which had minimal interaction with the texts. The methodological guidelines demonstrated an interest in an interdisciplinary and intersectoral approach but proposed strategies that did not align well with the content covered in the chapters. It is inferred, therefore, that there are gaps in the approach to NCDs in the analyzed textbooks, which may compromise students' education regarding disease prevention and health promotion.