Effects of the tobacco smoking prevention programme for secondary school students

Abstract

The study explored whether a smoking prevention programme based on Theory of Planned Behavior and Per-suasion Theory implemented during physical education classes could offer effective smoking prevention for students.137 Greek students (73 females and 64 males) attending 8th grade (2nd grade of Secondary Educa-tion) participated. The programme extended for over 10 weeks. The intervention took place once a week during Physical Education class. The questionnaire used had two parts. In the first part the students filled individual data for the demographic profile, in the second part they responded to questions relating to smoking. There were questions about knowledge, attitude, perceived control, subjective norm and intention towards smoking behaviour. The experimental group showed greater gains in knowledge about smoking relatively to the control group (F (1,135) = 16.18, p < .001). Also the experimental group showed an improvement at the attitude towards smoking behaviour (F (1,135) = 4.06, p < .05). There were not statistically significant difference between the groups regarding perceived control, subjective norm and intention towards smoking. The experimental group main-tained the improvements six months later. The results showed improvements in knowledge and in the students' attitude towards smoking. It was possible to combine Physical Education teaching with a smoking prevention programme.