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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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New Study Says Smoking Prevention Programs for Students Are Not Working [03/22-4]
Excerpts from: Prevention: When the Smoke Doesn't Clear
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR The New York Times [03/22/05]
Schools around the country offer a wide variety of programs to keep students from smoking, but a new study suggests that they all have one thing in common: they don't work.
A review of school programs that have been tested with randomized controlled trials shows no evidence of long-term effectiveness in any of them.
The research, which was published in the March issue of The Journal of Adolescent Health, notes that the programs will probably continue in most schools because Congress has required schools receiving federal money under Title IV to provide antismoking and drug abuse programs.
According to an editorial accompanying the paper, California spent a total of $406 million on school antismoking programs from 1989 to 2003, almost one-third of its overall expenditures to discourage use of tobacco.
Teenage smoking is declining, but the research suggests that the programs cannot take the credit.
The study's lead author, Dr. Sarah Wiehe, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, cites money as the main explanation. "It has been shown over and over that kids are especially sensitive to tax increases," Dr. Wiehe said.
What should schools do? "It may be that any program conducted in schools induces a certain amount of contempt in students," Dr. Wiehe said. Nevertheless she suggested that schools borrow from the antismoking advertising campaigns that have been shown to be effective.
"Schools could focus more on media literacy," she said, "showing how the tobacco industry targets prospective clients, and how to be more aware of their propaganda."
Click here to view the abstract of this study
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