The general objective is to test, in a mixed experimental and quasi-experimental field study, the relative and overall effectiveness of different approaches to implementing a comprehensive and integrated smoking prevention program designed to reduce the number of children who will become cigarette smokers. Targeted primarily at junior high school children and their families, the program is composed of four integrated components: five 5-minute TV segments on smoking prevention aired on commercial TV each evening for one week during the early evening news hour; five corresponding 45-60 minute classroom sessions delivered to Grade 7 health education classes during the same week: encouragement of family involvement by the use of homework assignments and provided written materials; and five 5-minute segments the following week on smoking cessation targeted at all smokers, but particularly at smoking students and parents. The program is comprehensive in that while it focusses on developing an awareness of the social pressures to smoke and providing the behavioral skills needed to resist such pressures, it also provides information on both the physiological and social effects of smoking as well as the long-term health consequences, and teaches decision-making skills so that adolescents can reach informed decisions about their behavior. The proposed research calls for school based experimental and quasi-experimental studies to determine the effects of the program on the beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and smoking behavior of junior high school children. Implementation/process evaluation (manipulation checks) will provide checks of the integrity and strength of the program as implemented under various conditions.
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