Cent Eur J Public Health 2016, 24(2):137-143

Prevalence of Tobacco Use among School Teachers and Effect of Training on Tobacco Use in Western Turkey

Gülengül Mermer¹, Şafak Dağhan¹, Ayşegül Bilge², Renginar Öztürk Dönmez¹, Süheyla Özsoy¹, Türkan Günay³

¹ Department of Public Health of Nursing, Nursing Faculty, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey

² Department of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Nursing Faculty, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey

³ Department of Public Health, Medical Faculty of Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey

Background and Aim: Tobacco consumption is still a prevalent issue. Given that teachers are respected in society, they have a great responsibility for tobacco control. This study examines, using the Transtheoretical Model (TTM), the prevalence of tobacco use among teachers and their different stages of tobacco use. It also evaluates teachers' views on smoking and the effectiveness of training on tobacco use.

Methods: This study is quasi-experimental. Pre-test and post-test were used first with a cross-sectional group, then with a single group to determine the frequency of tobacco use. The research participation complied with the voluntary principles and the participation rate was 84.9%. The research sample comprised 450 teachers working at schools (N=17) under the Kemalpasa Directorate of Education. The data form contained 29 questions about socio-demographic characteristics and smoking habits. The Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), Smoking Decisional Balance Scale (SDBS), and the Stage of Change were used. A pre-test was also administered, and training was given between January 13 and March 4, 2014. After the training sessions, two short messages (SMS) were sent on March 12 and March 19, 2014. A post-test was administered between April 1 and May 21, 2014. The relevant institutions and participants gave the requisite permission for the data used in this study. Percentage distribution, dependent t-tests and chi-square tests were used to evaluate the research data.

Results: The median age of the teachers was 37.49±7.84. The teachers' mean score for the pre-test of FTND was 5.7±2.03, and their mean score for the post-test was 3.25±2.07. Post-test scores were remarkably lower than the pre-test scores. It was found that teachers' mean scores for SDBS were different before and after training. After training, anti-smoking attitudes increased (pros-cons scores: pre-test: -3.64±4.68, post-test: -11.25±5.48). The training helped the entire group to make progress in the process change.

Conclusion: After training on "the health effects of smoking", teachers' anti-smoking attitudes rose on the smoking decision balance scale, their nicotine dependency was reduced, and they were able to move forward in a positive direction.

Keywords: nursing interventions, teacher, smoking, tobacco, transtheoretical model, Turkey

Received: December 9, 2014; Revised: December 10, 2015; Accepted: December 10, 2015; Published: June 1, 2016  Show citation