title: A community-wide school health project for the promotion of smoke-free homes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A community-wide school health project for the promotion of smoke-free homes was launched in June 2010 with the aim of promoting the benefits of smoke-free homes to all school-aged children (aged 6-18), and indirectly to their parents and family members. The 1-year project included health talks on a smoke-free life; the distribution of educational leaflets; slogan and visual art competitions; and a health fair held in June 2011. Two sets of questionnaires were developed to solicit a resolution and action from the participants regarding the establishment of a smoke-free home, and their decision to stay smoke-free. This is a paper to report on the activities of this project, the attempts to reach out to school-aged children, and their indications of agreement with, support for, and commitment to promoting smoke-free homes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The project reached an estimated 12,800 school-aged children in Hong Kong. A large proportion of those received educational leaflets (69.6-88.2 %). Of those who participated in the health fair, 69.7-87.6 % agreed to promote the concept of smoke-free homes to friends and family. More primary than secondary students pledged to not take up smoking (90.8 vs 85.8 %). About 82 % of those who had experimented with smoking pledged to stop. A small proportion of them reported already having established a smoke-free policy at home (14.9 %), placed a 'No Smoking' sign at home (16.4 %), informed visitors of their smoke-free policy at home (12.9 %), and asked visitors to dispose of lit cigarettes before entering their home (15.9 %).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This community-wide school health project on the benefits of smoke-free homes reached a large number of students, and indirectly to family members, and home visitors. Public health efforts of this kind should be continued to reach younger generations and the general public.
authors.affiliation: Family and Community Health Research, School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong. hsaloke@polyu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Alice Yuen
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Loke
authors.affiliation: Family and Community Health Research, School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong. yw.mak@polyu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Y W
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Mak
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D006277:Health Fairs; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention