Effects of tobacco prevention education program on adolescents' knowledge of and attitude toward smoking

Purpose. To evaluate the effectiveness of a smoking prevention program on the perception of and attitudes toward smoking in adolescents. Methods. First graders of eight randomly selected junior high schools in Taichung were recruited into two groups. A total of 412 students from four schools served as the experimental group and 440 students from the other four schools comprised the control group. All of the students received an educational brochure after completing a structured pre-intervention questionnaire to measure their knowledge of and attitudes toward smoking. After two weeks, an intervention program consisting of a two-hour lecture was provided to the experimental group only; then, each group completed the same post-intervention questionnaire. A total of 778 students completed the pre- and post-intervention questionnaires. Results. The results indicated that adolescents' knowledge of and attitudes toward smoking in the experimental group (0.18 > 0.12, p = 0.039; 0.25 > 0.17, p <0.001) improved significantly after the intervention program. Furthermore, after controlling for possible confounding factors such as gender, family structure, smoking experience, and baseline knowledge and attitudes, adolescents' knowledge of and attitudes toward smoking in the experimental group still improved significantly more than those in the control group (β = 1.203, p <0.001; β = 1.21, p = 0.027). Conclusions. The tobacco prevention education program improved adolescents' knowledge of and attitudes toward the hazards of cigarette smoking.