Smoking intervention programme for male secondary-school students in south-western Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

A one-day antismoking programme was conducted for 289 students in a male secondary school in Abha, Saudi Arabia. The one-group pretest/post-test design to evaluate the programme was based on an Arabic version of the WHO standard questionnaire for young people. The results showed that the prevalence rate of regular smoking was 14.5%. The students showed marked variability in correct responses to various factual items. The programme had a significant impact on nonsmokers [P < 0.01] and prespecialty students [P < 0.01]. With the exception of smokers, the students showed an overall positive attitude towards public action, but the impact of the one-day programme was less than satisfactory