Attitudes of teachers about tobacco prevention at school.
BACKGROUND
To know the smoking habits of the Spanish teachers, the anti-smoking teaching and the influence on the smoking habits of the students.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-administrated and anonymous questionnaire. Of the he questionnaires addressed to the headmasters of 8,000 school centers selected as a random sample among the 18,457 existing in Spain, 3,050 valid answers were received.


RESULTS
29.7% of Spanish teachers are smokers, smoking significantly more (p < 0.001; 95% C.I.) in Secondary education (37.2 +/- 15.9%) than in Primary education (26.2 +/- 19.4%) and 7% smoke in front of the pupils, significantly more in state schools (p < 0.05) and in Secondary education (p < 0.001). There are positive correlations between the percentage of smoking teachers and the percentage of pupils who tasted tobacco (p < 0.001) or are regular smokers (p < 0.001), and also between the percentage of teachers who smoke in front of the pupils and the percentage of students who tried tobacco (p < 0.001) or smoke regularly (p < 0.001). In the school centers which apply the non-smoking regulation or teach antitobacco contents, the percentage of teachers smoking in front of pupils is significantly lower (p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The attitude of teachers has an influence on the students; headmasters must ask for the application of non-smoking regulation and include health education contents in school curriculum.
Barrueco
M
M
Hospital Universitario (Salamanca), Universidad de Salamanca. mibafe@gugu.usal.es
Hernández-Mezquita
M A
MA
Jiménez-Ruiz
C
C
Torrecilla
M
M
Vega
M T
MT
Garrido
E
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003479:Curriculum; D005178:Faculty; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D013030:Spain; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires