2012 Volume 14 Issue 2 Pages 72-81
Purpose: This study was conducted to examine the efficacy of an education program of smoking prevention according to the risk of future smoking. Methods: We provided an education program of smoking prevention for 548 first-year students (234 males and 314 females) attending three high schools of three prefectures in the Kinki region, and conducted questionnaire surveys three times: prior to, immediately after, and six months after the implementation of the program. Question items include gender, their smoking behavior, their expectation to smoke in adulthood, the confidence to refuse to smoke, the will to encourage others to stop smoking, and smokers' interest in smoking cessation. In the education program the authors grouped participants into three divisions (low-, medium-, and high-risks of future smoking) and assigned 50-minute lectures about smoking, group work sessions, and homework assignment to each group for assessing the effects of the program on their intention to smoke in the future. Results: In the low- and medium-risk groups there was little change in students' attitudes on smoking, except for boys' expectation to smoke in adulthood in the medium-risk group. In the high-risk group there were statistically significant improvements in the expectation to smoke in adulthood and smokers' interest in smoking cessation. Conclusions This education program had positive effects on the high-risk groups though it was not effective in improving participants'attitudes on smoking in the medium-risk group. These findings show that it is necessary to change the contents of education program for making high-school students have confidence to refuse to smoke
