Tobacco Prevention Education in Schools for the Deaf: The Faculty Perspective

Abstract

We report results of a survey of tobacco education practices and perspectives among faculty at four Schools for the Deaf participating in the trial of a tailored tobacco prevention curriculum. Few faculty (20.4%) included tobacco use among the three most important health problems facing their students, although 88.8% considered tobacco education to be worthwhile. Despite perceived unmet needs among their students, classroom or school-wide attention to tobacco prevention was limited. Only 13.9% reported delivering tobacco programming in the prior year, most often reporting lack of deaf-friendly curriculum and materials (60.9%), time (47.8%), and training (43.5%) as barriers to program delivery. Perceptions, attitudes, and institutional issues, including lack of tailored curriculum, were seen as contributing to the limited focus on this important health problem.