NCT01306552

Evaluation of a Combined Parent-student Programme for Smoking Prevention in Berlin Schools

BEST Prevention Study. "Berlin Evaluates School Tabacco Prevention" Study Evaluation of a Combined Parent-student Programme for Smoking Prevention in Berlin Schools

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 3,400 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Charite University, Berlin, Germany · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 12 Years – 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a combined parent-student program for smoking prevention in 7th graders in Berlin schools.

Detailed description

The hazardous health effects of smoking and second hand smoke are well known and published. Despite wide spread tobacco prevention campaigns and initiatives, the proportion of children and adolescents who smoke remains high, especially in Germany. Current research indicates that comprehensive strategies, especially with a parental involvement component, appear to be the most effective school-based smoking prevention programs. A popular smoking prevention program in the city of Berlin is the Karuna interactive show jumping course "Still smoking or already alive?" ("Rauchst du noch oder lebst du schon?" Mitmach - Parcours). This parcours was designed to teach facts about smoking and its health-damaging effects, its negative effects on physical appearance, to promote communication and to enhance participants' awareness of social pressure and their self-efficacy to deal with these situations. No study to date has evaluated its effectiveness in reducing smoking rates among participating students. The study aim is to test the effectiveness of an interactive combined student-parent intervention in 7th graders regarding the reduction of smoking rates among secondary school children aged 12-15 compared to no smoking prevention intervention using self-reported questionnaires. In addition, it will be tested whether the program that involves the combination of a student and a parent intervention is more effective in the reduction of smoking rates in comparison to a program without a parental intervention.

Conditions

• Tobacco Use Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Student-Intervention only group	One visit to the smoking prevention parcours offered by KARUNA e.V. ("Rauchst Du noch oder lebst Du schon?") during 7th grade. The parcours takes approximately 3 hours to complete. The parcours consists of 7 interactive stations where a class of students learns about differences between smokers and non-smokers in terms of health status such as atherosclerosis prevalence, loss of smell or lung capacity and aging. Students also learn about the toxic ingredients in cigarettes. Each station includes a quiz to complete by each group of students. At the end of the parcours, a moderator will announce which group of students accumulated the most points. For more information on the contents of the parcours see http://www.karuna-prevents.de/index.php.
BEHAVIORAL	Multi-component Intervention	One visit to the smoking prevention parcours offered by KARUNA e.V. ("Rauchst Du noch oder lebst Du schon?") + one parent night with information about smoking prevention and one informational letter by mail
BEHAVIORAL	Control Group	One visit to the Nutrition and Physical Activity Parcours offered by KARUNA e.V. ("Kinderleicht gesund zu leben"). (same set up as the smoking prevention parcours with topics around healthy nutrition and promotion of physical activity)

Timeline

• Start date: 2010-10-01
• Primary completion: 2013-08-01
• Completion: 2013-08-01
• First posted: 2011-03-02
• Last updated: 2011-03-02

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Germany