A controlled evaluation of an intensive, peerled, schools-based, anti-smoking programme

There is increasing interest in health promotion interventions which seek to change behaviour through local cultural diffusion by trained opinion-formers. This study adapted this approach to schools settings. Popular pupils in years 8 and 9 (aged 12 to 14) were recruited for intensive training by specialist staff on how to intervene effectively in everyday situations to promote smoking cessation and prevention of smoking uptake among their peers. Data on smoking behaviour, plus saliva samples forcotinine testing, were collected pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, and three months post-intervention in two intervention and two control schools. Most differences in behaviour between intervention and control schools were not statistically significant. However, baseline ex-smokers (11 per cent of the sample and a larger group than baseline regular smokers) were significantly more likely still to be abstinent in the intervention, as opposed to the control, schools. Given the relative paucity of evidence of effective anti-smoking programmes in schools, these results are sufficiently encouraging to justify a full-scale randomised controlled trial evaluation.