Evaluation of a peer-led smoking prevention programme for Romanian adolescents

Abstract

The goal of this study was to assess the effects of a school-based smoking prevention programme that used both a video and peer-led discussion groups among Romanian junior high school students aged 13-14 years. The programme embraced the social influence approach and concentrated on enhancing self-efficacy and the acquisition of cigarette refusal skills. Twenty schools were randomly assigned to the control and experimental conditions, resulting in 55 participating classes from the seventh grade (28 in the control group and 27 in the experimental group). Pretest and 9 months follow-up data on weekly smoking initiation and psychosocial variables were collected from 1071 students. Multilevel logistic regression analyses demonstrated a significant effect of the programme on adolescents' smoking behaviour after 9 months. At post-test, weekly smoking onset was 4.5% in the experimental group versus 9.5% in the control group. Furthermore, the programme had significant effects on smoking-related beliefs. In the experimental group, this resulted in a more negative attitude towards smoking, increased social self-efficacy levels and a more negative intention towards smoking. These findings show that short-term effects of the smoking prevention programme can be realized in Romania. More studies are needed to analyse how to maintain these effects over time.

Peer‐led interventions to prevent tobacco, alcohol and/or drug use among young people aged 11–21 years: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Approximately half of the studies (n=9 of 17, 52%) targeted tobacco smoking and most were conducted in the United States . The remaining studies were conducted in the United Kingdom 19, Australia 35, Norway 39, Spain 36, Poland and Romania 54, while a multi‐centre study was conducted in Australia , Norway , Chile and Swaziland 51. A number of studies targeted young people aged 12–13 years ( n  = 8), while four studies targeted young people aged 13–18 and most were conducted in the school setting.…”

“…Among those interventions that were the most effective 19, 20, 31, 54, however, there was no clear pattern of factors associated with impact, such as shared intervention domains, duration of intervention or underlying theory. In addition, no clear message emerged regarding whether peers, teachers or professionals were more effective at instigating behaviour change.…”

Smoking Prevention for Adolescents in Romanian Schools

“…Numerous academic and non-academic demands placed on schools as well as the broad range of different health topics might impede a thorough implementation of all programmes. Besides, the implementation of school-based smoking prevention programmes depends not only on limited time, but also on sometimes insufficiently trained or unmotivated personnel (Murray et al, 1992, Lotrean et al, 2010.…”

“…The research team administered the questionnaires and appropriate conditions were created in order to assure confidentiality and voluntary participation of students (Lotrean et al, 2010). No refusals were recorded; nonparticipation was exclusively due to absence of students on the day of assessment.…”

“…This programme used a video-peer-led strategy and was adapted to the Romanian situation and culture by using different cartoons and recording scenes for the video that matched the Romanian context of 13-15 year-old adolescents. All items were piloted and revised when needed (Lotrean et al, 2010).…”