School-based Smoking Prevention in Adolescents in Developing Countries: A Literature Review

BACKGROUND: The incidence of diseases due to tobacco consumption has increased, especially in developing countries, where around 90% of smokers start consuming tobacco before the age of 18 years. School-based smoking prevention programs can prevent smoking among adolescents. This program is often implemented in developing countries because it is considered cost-effective, and the results are promising. At present, the school-based smoking prevention program is expanding with many methods. AIM: This study aims to describe the various types of school-based smoking prevention interventions in developing countries. METHODS: This research applied a literature review approach with the process of collecting data through the Science Direct, ProQuest, EBSCO, and NCBI databases. Search literature was by keyword “smoking AND prevention AND school-based AND adolescent AND randomized controlled trials or randomized controlled trials.” Inclusion criteria used for data collection were studies on school-based smoking prevention interventions, full text, and journal publishing from 2015 to 2019, using English. The research conducted in developing countries and prevention interventions was not only for smoking in the traditional way but also in the form of other than the consumption of tobacco such as cigars, smokeless tobacco, and hookah or shisha. Exclusion criteria in this review were publication articles not in the form of original publications such as letters to editors, only abstracts, and books. RESULTS: The literature search results found 594 journals with details of 99 Science direct journals, ProQuest 385 journals, NCBI 85 journals, and 25 EBSCO journals. The entire database belongs to the inclusion criteria and only seven articles meet the requirements. The results of the analysis revealed that interventions conducted in school-based smoking prevention programs for adolescents in developing countries included the application of the anti-smoking curriculum, behavior change intervention (BCI), and peer education. CONCLUSION: Interventions considered useful for preventing smoking in adolescents are the anti-smoking curriculum, BCI, and peer education