| Summary: | 碩士 === 中國醫藥大學 === 環境醫學研究所 === 93 === The prevalence of youth smoking has been estimated in the range of 10.8% and 15.4%. Among them, 20% to 30% become habitual smokers. The health authority, non-profit organizations and researchers have made a lot of efforts to reduce the smoking rates since Taiwan Tobacco Control Act was implemented in 1997. However, the need for an effective intervention program for youth smoking cessation remains. In this study, I experimentally developed a multi-component intervention program of smoking cessation for young smokers at schools. Participants recruited were 120 young smokers from two high schools in Taichung County with 59 students at junior high school and 61 at senior high school. These students were randomly assigned into two groups, one was for multi-component intervention and the other was for conventional intervention.
A questionnaire was used to collected baseline information on family backgrounds, family and social dynamics factors, and individuals’ physical, psychological and behavior factors. The multi-component intervention activities consisted of small-group interaction courses and group racing in “quit and win” for money, while the conventional intervention activities consisted of lecturing and broadcasting video programs with “question and answer” for gifts. Postintervention evaluation was conducted in 2 months after the intervention activities. In addition, urine samples were collected to determine cotinine levels and the changes in tobacco use. Nonparametric statistical methods such as Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon sign rank test, and Fisher’s exact test were used to examine the bivariate relationships, and multiple regression analysis was used to examine the multivariate relationships.
The results showed that for senior high school participants, within multi-component intervention group, the number of smokers who decreased cotinine levels was significantly greater than that of smokers who increased (20 vs. 8, Z=-2.915, P=0.004). On the other hand, for junior high school participants, within conventional intervention group, the number of smokers who decreased cotinine levels was significantly greater than that of smokers who increased (21 vs. 9, Z=-2.910, P=0.004 ). However, while taking possible changes in the individuals’ physical, psychological and social factors into consideration, no differences in the effectiveness existed between the two programs. Among the possible influencing factors on the changes in continine levels, only individual changes of behavior stage had a significant effect. In conclusion, young smoking-cessation intervention can change the amount of tobacco use for young smokers no matter whether it was a conventional or an experimental multi-component approach. Its effectiveness depends on young smokers’ characteristics, especially the stages of behavior change.
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