"Start to stop": results of a randomised controlled trial of a smoking cessation programme for teens.

Objective: To examine the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of a school based smoking cessation programme among students caught smoking at school.

Design: A randomised controlled trial comparing cessation rates among students in a behavioural cessation programme and those receiving self help materials only.

Setting: Eighteen schools in the Memphis, Tennessee area.

Child- and parent-targeted interventions: the Memphis GEMS pilot study.

Objective: To assess the feasibility, acceptability, and outcomes of 2 versions of a culturally relevant, family-based intervention to prevent excess weight gain in pre-adolescent African-American girls.

Design: Three-arm, 12-week parallel group randomized controlled pilot trial.

Setting: Community centers in Memphis, Tennessee.

Ethnic differences in smoking withdrawal effects among adolescents.

Smoking withdrawal effect information was collected from 75 adolescents (54 males and 21 females) making a quit attempt during a school-based smoking cessation program. A strong need to smoke was the most common withdrawal effect (60%), followed by irritability (51%), and difficulty concentrating (41%). Most (61%) participants experienced two or more withdrawal effects during the quit attempt, and withdrawal effects were evident in those smoking less than daily.

Characteristics of adolescents caught with cigarettes at school: implications for developing smoking cessation programs.

A potential method of recruiting adolescents for smoking cessation interventions is to offer treatment to students who have been caught with cigarettes at school. The present investigation surveyed 110 adolescents after they were caught with cigarettes at school. The majority of participants were daily smokers (65%) and 17% of the sample scored > or =6 on a version of the Fagerström Tolerance Questionnaire.

What motivates adolescent smokers to make a quit attempt?

A sample of 120 adolescent smokers (80 males, 40 females), most of whom were referred by school personnel after being caught with cigarettes at school (n=113), reported motivations for making a quit attempt during a smoking cessation project. Most students (n=76) were randomly assigned to a four session cessation program that included discussion of a number of motivational topics, and the remaining students were assigned to a self-help control group that received a pamphlet recommending strategies for quitting. Reported motivations for quitting did not differ significantly across the two treatment conditions.