AI Article Synopsis
- The study evaluated a tobacco prevention program delivered by medical students in German secondary schools to see if it effectively reduced smoking among adolescents aged 11-15 years.
- In a comparison of control and intervention groups, smoking prevalence doubled in the control group while remaining almost the same in the intervention group, indicating the program's positive impact, particularly on quitting smoking.
- Despite the successful reduction in smoking rates within the intervention group, the program did not demonstrate a significant primary preventive effect against starting smoking.
Article Abstract
Objectives: To evaluate the multinational medical-student-delivered tobacco prevention programme for secondary schools for its effectiveness to reduce the smoking prevalence among adolescents aged 11-15 years in Germany at half year follow-up.
Setting: We used a prospective quasi-experimental study design with measurements at baseline (t1) and 6 months postintervention (t2) to investigate an intervention in 8 German secondary schools. The participants were split into intervention and control classes in the same schools and grades.
Participants: A total of 1474 eligible participants of both genders at the age of 11-15 years were involved within the survey for baseline assessment of which 1200 completed the questionnaire at 6-month follow-up (=longitudinal sample). The schools participated voluntarily. The inclusion criteria were age (10-15 years), grade (6-8) and school type (regular secondary schools).
Intervention: Two 60 min school-based modules delivered by medical students.
Primary And Secondary Outcome Measures: The primary end point was the difference from t1 to t2 of the smoking prevalence in the control group versus the difference from t1 to t2 in the intervention group (difference of differences approach). The percentage of former smokers and new smokers in the two groups were studied as secondary outcome measures.
Results: In the control group, the percentage of students who claimed to be smokers doubled from 4.2% (t1) to 8.1% (t2), whereas it remained almost the same in the intervention group (7.1% (t1) to 7.4% (t2); p=0.01). The likelihood of quitting smoking was almost six times higher in the intervention group (total of 67 smokers at t1; 27 (4.6%) and 7 (1.1%) in the control group; OR 5.63; 95% CI 2.01 to 15.79; p<0.01). However, no primary preventive effect was found.
Conclusions: We report a significant secondary preventive (smoking cessation) effect at 6-month follow-up. Long-term evaluation is planned.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4577951 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008093 | DOI Listing |
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