title: A Qualitative Mediation Study to Evaluate a School-Based Tobacco Prevention Program in India (Project MYTRI).
abstract: Causal mediating processes were examined using qualitative methods to evaluate a tobacco-use prevention program for adolescents in India, Project MYTRI (Mobilizing Youth for Tobacco-Related Initiatives in India). Interviews were conducted with Project MYTRI leaders and staff persons. The focus of the interviews was to learn about the program implementation and to characterize how Project MYTRI classroom sessions altered student-level psychosocial risk factors (mediators) to prevent or reduce tobacco use among students in intervention schools in Delhi and Chennai. From qualitative analysis, key mediating variables were identified (students' tobacco knowledge, skills development, beliefs about tobacco, intentional beliefs, advocacy beliefs, and self-efficacy beliefs), a qualitative mediation path model was drawn, causal processes were described, and contextual influences (potential moderators) were explained. The qualitative findings complemented the results of statistical mediation analysis, yielding a detailed and contextualized description of how Project MYTRI affected students.
authors.affiliation: Arizona State University; now Arlington, TN, USA.
authors.forename: S Lewis
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Bate
authors.affiliation: Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, University of Texas School of Public Health, Austin, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Melissa H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Stigler
authors.affiliation: School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: Marilyn S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: MacKinnon
authors.affiliation: Health Related Information Dissemination Amongst Youth (HRIDAY), New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arora
authors.affiliation: Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, University of Texas School of Public Health, Austin, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Cheryl L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.affiliation: Public Health Foundation of India, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID), New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: K Srinath
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Reddy
keywords: India; adolescents; mediation analysis; psychosocial risk factors; qualitative research; tobacco prevention