Evaluation of effectiveness of peer education on smoking behavior among high school students

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of peer education on changing the smoking behavior of high schoolage children’s. Methods: In this interventional study; transtheoretical model, which is one of the cognitive-behavioral models was used for application of the peer education. Study was conducted in Izmir during 2011-2012 education period and included 338 students from 2 high schools The independent variable of the study is peer training. Descriptive variables for a student are age, gender, tendecy of friends to smoke inside and outside the school, the age they have first experienced the habit, reasons for nicotine consumption, levels of addiction, chatting about smoking and related harms. Family descriptive variables are education level of parents and whether their smoking tendency is present or not. Results: Approximately 18.3% of the students were current smoker. A positive behavioral change of smoking quitting among smoker students was observed after peer education. The number of students in precontemplation stage was reduced while the number of students in stages of preparation/determination action and maintenance was increased. Conclusion: Peer education was observed to be an effective method in the behavioral change of smoking teens. Authors strongly suggest peer education to be one of the preferred tools in changing the teen behavior in use of tobacco