The impacts of a school-wide no smoking strategy and classroom-based smoking prevention curriculum on the smoking behavior of junior high school students

BACKGROUND: This study aimed at exploring the impacts of a school-wide no smoking strategy and a classroom-based smoking prevention curriculum on smoking-related knowledge, attitude, behavior, and skill of junior high school students.

METHODS: Using a pre-post quasi-experimental design, 469 seventh-to ninth-grade students at four junior high schools in Taiwan, were selected and separated into three groups according to class unit. Experimental group A experienced a school-wide no smoking strategy and a six-session smoking prevention curriculum. Experimental group B experienced only the school-wide no smoking strategy. The control group experienced no intervention. The students were tested 1 week before intervention began and 1 week after it ended.

RESULTS: Experimental group A exhibited a better understanding than either experimental group B or the control group of the dangers of smoking and of techniques for refusing cigarettes; and in fact, group A indicated low smoking intention than experimental group B. Experimental group A also had a better attitudes towards resisting smoking than the control group. However, the intervention had no demonstrable effect on the smoking behavior and on the smoking substitution methods of students.

CONCLUSIONS: To reduce the smoking rates among junior high school students, diversified school-wide no smoking strategies and standardized, diversified instruments should be adopted so that outcomes of smoking prevention work may be assessed more objectively and effectively.