Thiruvananthapuram, July 21 (IANS) School-based tobacco control programmes have significant potential in reducing tobacco use among adolescents, says a new study.
The finding, published as a research paper in the prestigious Indian Journal of Paediatrics, comes just as schools brace to enforce the Kerala High Court's directions on tobacco control in the new academic year.
The paper, based on a review of literature on school-based tobacco-control programmes, has found that overall tobacco use among school-going adolescents decreased by 17 percent after the intervention.
The sample in the study covered 14,063 students from 32 schools in Delhi and Chennai.
The intervention included measures such as behavioural classroom curricula, school posters, parental involvement and peer-led activism.
In contrast, tobacco-use among adolescents increased by 68 percent in the control group, which did not receive any intervention.
The authors of the review paper -- Monika Arora, Manu Raj Mathur and Neha Singh -- have also proposed an IMPACT model for tobacco control among adolescents and children.
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