Smoking Prevention Among Youth: A Multipronged Approach Involving Parents, Schools, and Society

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine the perspectives of professionals on youth smoking prevention. The researchers used a qualitative descriptive design with a purposive sample of 9 professionals consisting of elementary school teachers, public health nurses, and tobacco control experts from non-governmental organizations. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and were analyzed for themes. The view of the participants was that although parents have the main responsibility for educating their children about smoking, a multipronged approach, which also includes school and society more generally, will have the greatest effect. The need for a comprehensive, multifaceted, multichannel approach might explain why single smoking prevention interventions are often ineffective. Public health nurses are in a prime position to foster and support parents' smoking prevention interventions with their children and to advocate for strong tobacco control social policy and best practice for smoking prevention curricula in schools.