The National Cancer Institute places tobacco control research in developing countries among its top tobacco research priorities in its 2006 Bypass Budget Report, reflecting concerns about the growing global disease burden attributable to tobacco. India provides an important case example of tobacco control efforts within a developing country, as the second largest country in the world with a population of over one billion people, and with an estimated 250 million tobacco users age 10 and above. This study proposes to test a comprehensive tobacco control intervention for teachers in the Indian state of Bihar, representing one of the highest tobacco-using regions in India. Teachers are an important vanguard population for tobacco control efforts in their roles as key opinion leaders in relation to community norms and role models for students. According to the Global School Personnel Survey, 78% of teachers in Bihar used some form of tobacco in the year 2000.
The specific aims of this study are to: (1) assess the extent to which a comprehensive tobacco control intervention results in increased cessation of tobacco use among teachers in Bihar schools;(2) assess the extent to which a comprehensive tobacco control intervention results in changes in school tobacco control policies;(3) assess the extent to which a comprehensive tobacco control intervention results in changes in defined mediating mechanisms among teachers;and (4) assess key indicators of intervention implementation among schools assigned to the intervention condition, including the extent of the implementation of the intervention, the reach of the intervention, and the fidelity to the intervention protocol. This randomized controlled trial uses the school as the unit of intervention and randomization. Government schools (N=100) including grades 8-10 (i.e., ages 13-15) in the state of Bihar, India, will be randomly selected, recruited to participate in the study, and randomly assigned within strata (rural, urban) to one of two conditions (intervention versus delayed intervention control). Data will be collected by a teacher survey at three time points;a policy assessment;and a process evaluation. Our preliminary work in Bihar provides a critical starting point for this work, and demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed study. The intervention has been designed to balance potential intervention impact on teachers'tobacco use patterns with feasibility within the constraints of local resources, thereby maximizing the potential for dissemination.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA120958-03
Application #
7745469
Study Section
Community-Level Health Promotion Study Section (CLHP)
Program Officer
Bloch, Michele H
Project Start
2008-01-01
Project End
2012-12-31
Budget Start
2010-01-01
Budget End
2010-12-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$543,034
Indirect Cost
Name
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Department
Type
DUNS #
076580745
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02215
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Nagler, Eve M; Sinha, Dhirendra N; Pednekar, Mangesh S et al. (2015) Social contextual factors and tobacco use among Indian teachers: insights from the Bihar School Teachers' Study. Prev Med 74:24-30
Pawar, P S; Nagler, E M; Gupta, P C et al. (2015) Tracking intervention delivery in the 'Tobacco-Free Teachers/Tobacco-Free Society' program, Bihar, India. Health Educ Res 30:731-41
Pischke, Claudia R; Galarce, Ezequiel M; Nagler, Eve et al. (2013) Message formats and their influence on perceived risks of tobacco use: a pilot formative research project in India. Health Educ Res 28:326-38
Sorensen, Glorian; Pednekar, Mangesh S; Sinha, Dhirendra N et al. (2013) Effects of a tobacco control intervention for teachers in India: results of the Bihar school teachers study. Am J Public Health 103:2035-40
Nagler, Eve M; Pednekar, Mangesh S; Viswanath, Kasisomayajula et al. (2013) Designing in the social context: using the social contextual model of health behavior change to develop a tobacco control intervention for teachers in India. Health Educ Res 28:113-29