Factors influencing teachers’ views of health and health education ; an international study

International audienceObjective: To analyse teachers’ health views in order to obtain general trends in factors influencing health and health education and to fit them into the negative–positive model of health proposed by Downie and collaborators.Method: This large international study involved 15 countries from Western and Eastern Europe, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South America, with high socioeconomic and cultural diversity. The questionnaire constructed and validated by the European FP6 project BIOHEAD-CITIZEN was applied in each country to a balanced sample of pre-service teachers (Pre) and in-service teachers (In) of primary schools (P) and secondary schools, teaching biology (B) or national language (L).Results: Women, older persons, those having longer higher university education, primary school teachers (compared to secondary teachers) and language teachers (compared to biology teachers) have a more positive view of health. The major difference was found between countries, rather than religion, where five groups emerged from cluster analysis.Conclusion: The study does not lead to a comprehensive view of factors influencing teachers’ perceptions of health but results showed that there is a variety of variables associated with health and health education views. These findings can contribute to facilitate developing appropriate specific health education teachers’ training courses