The Model for Smoking Prevention and Reduction in Smoking Behavior among Youth in a School by Community Participations of Mueang District, Chanthaburi Province

Abstract

This research and development study aimed to examine policy approaches and develop model for smoking prevention and reduction among youth in schools through community participations in Mueang district, Chanthaburi province. The research was conducted in two phases with 1) a group of 15 key informants using interviews and 2) 32 samples participated in the model development using focus group discussions. The samples were selected using a purposive sampling. The data were analyzed using content analysis.

Results from phase 1 showed that the policy approaches to prevent and reduce smoking behavior among youth in schools were as follows: 1) schools organized various activities to prevent and reduce smoking behavior in forms of projects with a system to help students who smoke; 2) school committee worked on preventing and reducing smoking behaviors; 3) knowledge and smoking prevention were added into teaching contents; 4) there were ‘no smoking’ signs posted in various areas of the schools; and 5) students played roles smoking prevention policy. In phase 2, the developed model to prevent and reduce smoking behavior among youth in schools by community participation included 6 activities: 1) provide knowledge, 2) access to health information, 3) practice decision-making skills, 4) self-management, 5) media literacy, and 6) practice health information communication skills.

The results provided information for future experimental studies on prevention and reduction of smoking behavior among youths in schools in Mueang district, Chanthaburi province and other areas with similar contexts.