LE3 .A278 2003

2003

Kitchin, Heather

Acadia University

Master of Arts

Masters

Sociology

Sociology

This thesis examines the Health and Family Life Education Curriculum administered to primary and junior high school students in public schools in the Bahamas. The main methods employed for this thesis are grounded theory and content analysis. The results of the content analysis reveal that curricular videos mainly focus on the method of persuasion accompanied by themes such as the role of peers, the power of choice, the importance of making good decisions, the importance of getting the facts about drugs and encouragement not to use drugs. The overall theme of the Health and Family Life Education Curriculum, however, is 'don't use drugs'. Grounded analysis reveals that in the Health and Family Life Education Curriculum there is an interaction and juxtaposition of concepts, addiction models, and messages familiar to various discourses on drugs which contribute to the complexity of the curriculum, the flexibility of the curriculum, the priority of the curriculum and the main foci of the curriculum. Borrowing from various implicit models of drug use and addiction, the Health and Family Life Education Curriculum does not present students with clear explanations or definitions of 'disease' and 'habit', thus conflating the concepts. It is found that the curriculum examined for the study serves ultimately to maintain social order and reflects heavily upon the "just say no" campaign, generated in recent years in the United States.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:2887