Stay Away from Tobacco: A pilot trial of a school‐based adolescent smoking prevention program in Beijing, China

Abstract

A quasiexperimental study was conducted to explore the efficacy of the program Stay Away from Tobacco (SAFT). Participants-from 11 classes with 381 students total in grades 7, 8, 10, and 11-were assigned by class to three groups (intervention group T with school teachers delivering the program, intervention group R with researchers delivering the program, and comparison group C). Data were collected at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and 6 months after the intervention. Self-reported smoking was the outcome measure. The 30-day smoking prevalence in group C increased from 4% at baseline to 10% at the 6-month follow-up, whereas this rate declined from 11% to 6% in group T, and from 9% to 1% in group R. For group T, the odds ratio (for 30-day smoking) and the regression coefficient (for indexed number of cigarettes smoked) assessing interactions between intervention and time were 0.20 (p < .001) and -.1605 (p < .05), respectively. The same statistics for group R were 0.09 (p < .001) and -.2406 (p < .01), respectively. The predicted smoking rate declined by 19% from baseline to 6-month follow-up in group T (11.5% vs. 9.3%), and the same rate declined by 26% in group R (11.1% vs. 8.2%). The results from this pilot trial suggest that SAFT can reduce cigarette smoking among middle and high school students through its effect on improving these students' refusal skills and changing their perceived mental and physical values from smoking. A full-scale evaluation is recommended.

Identification and Structural Characterization of Avian Beta-Defensin 2 Peptides from Pheasant and Quail

“…The current study is critical because cigarette smoking rates remain high among Chinese adolescents despite marked and ongoing tobacco control efforts [27,28]. Among Chinese adolescents, it is estimated that 33.3-47.8% of males and 12.8-24.3% of females have initiated smoking (i.e., have smoked at least once), and 15.0-18.30% of males and 1.7-4.0% of females are current smokers [29][30][31][32][33].…”

“…We conducted a review and found only a few studies conducted in China (published in Chinese or English) that have been guided by a specific behavioral theory [27,31,[39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. In addition, we found only one etiological study to date among those conducted in China that used the Theory of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior as the guiding theoretical framework [47][48][49].…”

“…In addition, we found only one etiological study to date among those conducted in China that used the Theory of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior as the guiding theoretical framework [47][48][49]. Among these studies, we identified only two intervention studies that included guiding theories related to social influences and media receptivity [27,50].…”

A Theory-Based Smoking Intervention for Chinese High School Students: Development, Implementation, and Evaluation

“…This mixed approach has shown some preliminary success in reducing smoking rates among Chinese middle school students (X. Chen, Fang, Li, Stanton, & Lin, 2006).…”

“…Based on Project TNT (Project Towards No Tobacco Use, Sussman et al, 1993) and the MSPP (Minnesota Smoking-Prevention Program, Murray, Davis-Hearn, Goldman, Pirie, & Luepker, 1988), X. Chen, Fang, et al (2006) adapted components about negative health outcomes, refusal skills, messages of tobacco promotions, as well as social influence and implemented the programme among 7 th , 8 th , 10 th , and 11 th graders. At 6 months after the intervention, there was a decrease in smoking rates (whether they smoked in the past 30 days) in the intervention group (either delivered by researchers or school teachers) and an increase in control groups (X.…”