Abstract 5054: Smoking prevention intervention with school classes at a university hospital by thoracic surgeon und pulmonologist

Abstract

Abstract Purpose: Smoking prevention in schoolchildren with the aim to inform and prevent smoking initiation has been widely studied and has shown variable results. Interventions provided by physicians in a hospital setting have been rarely reported. Here we show the feasibility and gain of knowledge of our smoking prevention project in a hospital setting. Methods: Interventions performed from November 2009 - February 2013 were evaluated. Overall 470 children participated in our preventive intervention. A 7-item questionnaire was provided to the school classes (Grades 6 to 10) before and after a two-hour smoking prevention intervention consisting of anatomical models, oral presentations, videos, patient interviews and hands-on lung function tests. The goal was to show the anatomical and physiological basics as well as age-based information about the harms of smoking. During the intervention the children have been motivated to be actively involved. Class selection has been performed for groups of children in a highly vulnerable phase of age before smoking initiation. Results: The baseline questionnaire was completed by 457 children, the one after intervention by 426. The knowledge about which organs are affected by smoking increased from 6.8-99.6% to 65.5-99.5% (p<0.01). While only 59.5% knew that only a minority of people is able to quit smoking successfully, 94.1% answered the question correctly after intervention (p<0.001). Prior to the intervention only 78.1% believed that minor tobacco consumption is not damaging which increased to 89.4% after the teaching session (p<0.05). Smoking hookah was believed to be less harmful than cigarettes by 30.2% of children decreasing to 7.7% after the intervention (p<0.001). Conclusion: Information on health effects provided by lung specialists in the hospital leads to a statistically significant increase in knowledge as assessed by a short questionnaire. The intervention is feasible and well received. This kind of interventions might help to prevent schoolchildren from smoking in a highly vulnerable phase of age. Citation Format: Sandra Tomaszek, Macé M. Schuurmans, Didier Schneiter, Walter Weder, Sven Hillinger. Smoking prevention intervention with school classes at a university hospital by thoracic surgeon und pulmonologist. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 5054. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-5054