A school nurse-delivered adolescent smoking cessation intervention: a randomized controlled trial.
BACKGROUND
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of a school nurse-delivered smoking cessation intervention to improve abstinence rates among adolescents interested in quitting.


METHODS
Seventy-one high schools in Massachusetts were randomized to either a four-session one-on-one school nurse-delivered smoking cessation intervention (37 schools, n = 571) or usual smoking cessation care control condition (34 schools, n = 577). Adolescents in grades 9-12 who smoked in the past 30 days completed surveys at baseline, 6 weeks and 3 months. The study was conducted during the 2002-2003 school year.


RESULTS
Thirty-day self-reported abstinence rates were significantly greater in students in the intervention compared to control condition at 6 weeks (18% vs. 2%, respectively) and 3 months (24% vs. 5%, respectively). After adjusting for school and potential confounders, students in the intervention schools had odds of quitting 8 times greater than students in the control schools at 6 weeks (OR = 8.4; 95% CI 3.7, 20.6) and 6 times greater at 3 months (OR = 6.4; 95% CI 3.4, 11.4). School nurses delivered intervention with a high degree of fidelity.


CONCLUSIONS
A four-session smoking cessation intervention can feasibly be delivered by school nurses and increase self-reported short-term abstinence rates among students interested in quitting smoking.
Pbert
Lori
L
Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA. lori.pbert@umassmed.edu
Osganian
Stavroula K
SK
Gorak
Diane
D
Druker
Susan
S
Reed
George
G
O'Neill
Katherine M
KM
Sheetz
Anne
A
D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012573:School Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires