Evaluation of California's in-school tobacco use prevention education (TUPE) activities using a nested school-longitudinal design, 2003–2004 and 2005–2006

Abstract

BackgroundCurrent legislative language requires the California Department of Public Health, California Tobacco Control Program, to evaluate the effectiveness of the school-based Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE) programme in California every 2 years. The objective of the study was to measure change and to identify the impact of school-based tobacco use prevention education activities on youth smoking prevalence and attitudes over time, spanning two school year surveys (2003–2004 and 2005–2006).MethodsEvaluation focused on school-based tobacco use prevention activities in 57 schools (student sample size, n=16 833) that participated in the in-school administration of the 2003–2004 and 2005–2006 California Student Tobacco Surveys. Hierarchical linear models were used to predict student tobacco use and precursors to tobacco use.ResultsOverall, student tobacco use, intention to smoke, number of friends smoking and perceived smoking prevalence by peers increased as students moved through grades 9 and 10 to grades 11 and 12. TUPE-related activities showed a suggestive association (p=0.06) with reduced rate in student tobacco use between the two surveys after adjusting for other contextual factors such as each school's socioeconomic characteristics.ConclusionsTUPE activities appears to be beneficial in reducing tobacco use in California high school students over time. Other contextual factors were important moderating influences on student tobacco use.

Smoke-Free Car Legislation and Student Exposure to Smoking

“…Although student response rates typically exceeded 70%, and school response rates typically exceeded 80%, 39 some bias was introduced by differential nonresponse in both the NYTS and CSTS. With both surveys, samples excluded dropouts, a significant problem for low-income school districts, such as the Los Angeles Unified School District, where the dropout rate is 17%.…”

“…The sampling methodology has been reported elsewhere. 39 Data were collected biennially from California students in grades 6 to 12 beginning with school years 2001 to 2002 through 2011 to 2012 (n = 151 074). Three CSTS administrations preceded the 2007 passage of SB 7, and 3 CSTS administrations followed it.…”

Limited potential of school textbooks to prevent tobacco use among students grade 1–9 across multiple developing countries: a content analysis study

“…Though conclusive evidence of long-term effectiveness is still needed, school-based educational messages can reach large numbers of adolescents at the critical time for uptake of smoking 4. Especially in developing countries, the advantage of school-based education is compounding as the enrolment of the official age-group for a given level rapidly increases.…”

Evaluation of the Tobacco-Use Prevention Education (TUPE) program in California

“…The literature suggests that school-based tobacco prevention programs can be effective in preventing the initiation of tobacco products if the programs are sufficiently intense and well implemented. [ 4 , 11 – 15 ] Therefore, if the program is well implemented, we would expect students would be less likely to use tobacco products. Our research shows that students at TUPE-funded schools are indeed less likely to use tobacco products than students at non-funded schools.…”

“…It found that greater program implementation was associated with a non-significant decrease in tobacco use over time. [ 4 ]…”