STD content in school health textbooks: an evaluation using the worth assessment procedure.

Classroom education is a key strategy to controlling sexually transmitted diseases in young persons. Textbooks are the major or sole source of STD information for many students. Thirteen secondary level health science textbooks and five sex education textbooks were reviewed to assess their potential contribution to STD control objectives. Worth assessment, a decision analysis tool for helping decision makers choose among complex or maltiattributed alternatives, was used to evaluate the STD content. The review indicated that sex education textbooks are more likely to contribute to STD control objectives than are health science textbooks. Health science textbooks failed to incorporate information on preventive health behaviors. Both types of textbooks present biomedical information primarily, which is generally free of significant errors. The worth assessment method proved to be a useful tool for evaluating the quality of textbook treatment in a specific content area.