title: Attitudes of teachers about tobacco prevention at school.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Universitario (Salamanca), Universidad de Salamanca. mibafe@gugu.usal.es
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barrueco
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hernández-Mezquita
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Ruiz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Torrecilla
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Vega
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Garrido
mesh_terms: 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