Abstract
Background: This report features a cross-province comparison of school personnel regarding tobacco use patterns, knowledge of and attitudes toward tobacco, availability of tobacco control teaching materials and training, and school anti-tobacco policies. Methods: The GSPS is a survey of teaching and non-teaching staff working in schools selected to participate in the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS). The questionnaire used for GSPS was a common tool standardized for this purpose by the CDC and WHO, consisting 42 questions about demographics (5 items), tobacco consumption (9 items), knowledge and attitude (14 items), school policies (4 items), and education programs and curriculum (10 items). All data were analysed using SPSS v.19 to demonstrate frequencies, cross-tabulation with confidence intervals Obtained from chi-square tests and t test. Univariate analysis and odds ratio were used to investigate the strength of association between selected variables. Significance level of 0.05 was considered for statistical analysis. Results: A total of 1005 school personnel (60.5% teacher) from 196 schools spreading in 27 out of 30 provinces were involved in the survey and returned the completed questionnaires. The overall smoking rate among school personnel was 24%, 100 cigarette smoking 13% and daily smoking was 7.8%. Nearly all school personnel strongly agreed that schools should have a clear policy for smoking cessation among students (95.3%) and school personnel (91.8%). Also about 78.4% reported that school personnel should be trained specially for smoke cessation. Conclusion: This study underscores the importance of support for tobacco use prevention in developing countries such as Iran, where tobacco use threatens to contribute to a growing proportion of the burden of disease worldwide. It is important to consider within country variations in tobacco use practices, social norms about smoking, and the available resource infrastructure supporting tobacco use prevention within schools, including comparisons by state, type of school (e.g., government versus private), and rural versus urban.
Highlights
Recent reports from the World Health Organisation indicate that only 5% of the global population is protected by comprehensive national smoke-free legislations and 40% of countries still allow smoking in public places such as hospitals and schools [1]
The Global School Personnel Survey (GSPS) is a survey of teaching and non-teaching staff working in schools selected to participate in the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) [15]
A total of 1005 school personnel (60.5% teacher) from 196 schools spreading in 27 out of 30 provinces were involved in the survey and returned the completed questionnaires
Summary
Recent reports from the World Health Organisation indicate that only 5% of the global population is protected by comprehensive national smoke-free legislations and 40% of countries still allow smoking in public places such as hospitals and schools [1]. In the 20th century the tobacco epidemic killed 100 million people worldwide and it is estimated to cause one billion during the 21st century. By 2030, about 70% of deaths attributed to tobacco use will occur in low- and middle-income countries [2]. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), as a primary prevention approach at its best, was developed [4], which by 2012 has been signed by 168 countries out of 192 WHO member states. This is one of the most widely supported treaties in the history of the United Nations. This report features a cross-province comparison of school personnel regarding tobacco use patterns, knowledge of and attitudes toward tobacco, availability of tobacco control teaching materials and training, and school anti-tobacco policies
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