A Call to Action: Successful Tobacco Control for the Future
ASH Wales is hosting a groundbreaking Tobacco Control conference in April 2008.
Mae ASH Cymru'n cynnal cynhadledd arloesol ar Reoli Tybaco ym mis Ebrill 2008. Ewch i'n gwefan er mwyn cadw'ch lle yn y digwyddiad pwysig.
Imagine… Now is the time
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Keynote speakers profiles
- April Roeseler
- Professor Robert West
- Professor Gerard Hastings
- Deborah Arnott
- Associate Professor Renee Bittoun
- Ms Norma Cronin
- Ms Margaretha Haglund
- Dr Tony Jewell
- Professor the Baroness Finlay of Llandaff
- First Minister Rhodri Morgan
- Andrew Black
- Dr Ian Campbell
- Sheila Duffy
- Odette Parry
- Julie Barratt
- Laurence Moore
- Andrew Jones
Conference Speakers
Laurence Moore
Laurence Moore is Director of the Cardiff Institute of Society, Health and Ethics. He is a social scientist and statistician with a particular interest in interventions to improve public health and health behaviour. He has led a number of cluster randomised trials of such interventions, including school-based interventions such as fruit tuck shops, peer-led smoking prevention and the free breakfast initiative in Wales. From September 2008, he will be Director of the new UK Centre of Excellence in Public Health Research, which is a strategic partnership of Cardiff, Bristol and Swansea Universities. The DECIPHer centre will use the framework of the socio-ecological model of health behaviour as a framework to Develop and Evaluate Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement.
Abstract Title: Schools-based smoking prevention in adolescence: findings from a cluster randomised trial of an informal, peer-led intervention (The ASSIST study)
Background
Schools in many countries undertake smoking prevention programmes but systematic reviews have found little evidence of their effectiveness. As a method of school-based health promotion peer education has excited interest. However, most approaches have been formal and classroom-based, and rigorous evaluations remain scarce.
Methods
A cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of an informal, peer-led intervention that aimed to prevent smoking uptake in secondary schools by identifying influential students, and training them to diffuse anti-smoking messages amongst their peers. 10,730 students in 59 schools in England and Wales participated. Primary outcomes were weekly smoking in the school year group and weekly smoking amongst a group at high risk of regular smoking uptake, identified at baseline as occasional, experimental or ex-smokers.
Results
The odds ratio of being a smoker in intervention compared with control group schools was 0.77 (95% CI 0.59, 0.99) at one-year follow-up and 0.85 (0.72, 1.01) at two-year follow-up. The corresponding odds ratios for the high-risk group were 0.75 (0.57, 1.00) and 0.85 (0.70, 1.02) respectively. In a 3-level multi-level model, utilising data from all three follow-ups, the odds of being a smoker in intervention compared with control schools was 0.78 (0.64, 0.96). Comparison of self-reported smoking and salivary cotinine data showed high consistency and negligible differences between those in intervention and control groups.
Conclusions
The ASSIST training programme was effective in achieving a sustained reduction in the uptake of regular, weekly smoking in adolescents over a two-year period following delivery of the programme.