Criticism of the proposed subject 'Health Education' in schools in Poland - the role of socio-demographic, regional, and health knowledge factors.

INTRODUCTION AND

OBJECTIVE

Public attitudes may affect the implementation of school health reforms. The aim of the study is to examine whether perceived reasons for public criticism of Poland's proposed Health Education curriculum varied by socio-demographic, regional, educational, and health-knowledge characteristics.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

A 2025 cross-sectional survey included 1,094 adults recruited by convenience sampling in three provinces. Analyses included 1,046 respondents who declared at least some familiarity with the proposal. In a single-choice item, respondents selected one of four categories of reasons for public criticism: substantive, political, ideological, or other. Associations were tested using Pearson's chi-square test and Cramér's V, while age was compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test.

RESULTS

Perceived reasons for public criticism varied by place of residence, province, educational attainment, and health-knowledge level; all effect sizes were small. Substantive responses were more frequent among respondents with higher education than among those with secondary or vocational education, and among respondents with higher health-knowledge levels. Age, household size, self-rated health, and status as a parent or legal guardian of a school-age child, were not significantly associated with the selected category.

CONCLUSIONS

Province showed the strongest association with respondents' perceptions, although the effect size remained small. Substantive explanations were more frequent in Mazowieckie and political explanations in Lubelskie, whereas ideological explanations were more frequent in Podkarpackie than in the other two provinces. Place of residence, educational attainment, and health-knowledge level showed weaker associations, suggesting that no single factor examined adequately accounts for the observed variation.