Efficacy of smoking prevention program 'Smoke-free Kids': study protocol of a randomized controlled trial

Contains fulltext : 77005.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Background - A strong increase in smoking is noted especially among adolescents. In the Netherlands, about 5% of all 10-year olds, 25% of all 13-year olds and 62% of all 17-year olds report ever smoking. In the U.S., an intervention program called 'Smoke-free Kids' was developed to prevent children from smoking. The present study aims to assess the effects of this home-based smoking prevention program in the Netherlands. Methods - A randomized controlled trial is conducted among 9 to 11-year old children of primary schools. Participants are randomly assigned to the intervention and control conditions. The intervention program consists of five printed activity modules designed to improve parenting skills specific to smoking prevention and parent-child communication regarding smoking. These modules will include additional sheets with communication tips. The modules for the control condition will include solely information on smoking and tobacco use. Initiation of cigarette smoking (first instance of puffing on a lighted cigarette), susceptibility to cigarette smoking, smoking-related cognitions, and anti-smoking socialization will be the outcome measures. To collect the data, telephone interviews with mothers as well as with their child will be conducted at baseline. Only the children will be examined at post-intervention follow-ups (6, 12, 24, and 36 months after the baseline). Discussion - This study protocol describes the design of a randomized controlled trial that will evaluate the effectiveness of a home-based smoking prevention program. We expect that a significantly lower number of children will start smoking in the intervention condition compared to control condition as a direct result of this intervention. If the program is effective, it is applicable in daily live, which will facilitate implementation of the prevention protocol. Trial registration: Netherlands Trial Register NTR146510 p

Childhood asthma: Parents’ role in smoking prevention and asthma perception

Contains fulltext : 145141.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 02 november 2015Promotores : Engels, R.C.M.E., Schayck, C.P. van Co-promotor : Otten, R.188 p

Parental smoking and smoking cognitions among youth: A systematic review of the literature

Contains fulltext : 157288.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Aims: We summarized and discussed the empirical evidence for an association between parental smoking and smoking-related cognitions among youth and for the mediating role of smoking-related cognitions in the relation between parental and youth smoking behaviour. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of articles published between 1980 and February 2015 using the databases PsychInfo and PubMed. Results: The systematic search resulted in 41 eligible studies. Only 4 studies investigated smoking-related cognitions as putative mediators in the association between parental and youth smoking. The synthesis of evidence showed a mix of significant and non-significant associations between parental smoking and smoking-related cognitions among youth. A majority of results reported positive associations even when non-significant findings were found. However, studies that report an effect suggest that the effect may be quite modest. Conclusion: Empirical evidence does not confirm the commonly applied assertions of social learning theories that parental smoking increases the risk of youth smoking through the development of favourable smoking-related cognitions. Methodological and theoretical aspects that might explain the lack of consistent findings are discussed.18 p

Effects of Parents' Education and Occupation on Adolescent Smoking and the Mediating Role of Smoking-Specific Parenting and Parent Smoking

Contains fulltext : 99289.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)The current study examined the independent effects of parents’ educational attainment and occupational status on adolescent smoking and mediation of smoking-specific communication and parents’ smoking behaviours on this link. Data were collected in a multi-informant, full-family design in two sampling waves separated by 3 years (n = 358). Education, occupational status, communication, and smoking were assessed via parent and child report. Different effects were found for the indicators of father and mother’s socioeconomic status (education and occupation) for three study outcomes (adolescent lifetime smoking, smoking onset, and smoking continuation). Bootstrapping procedures revealed no mediation in any of the socioeconomic status adolescent smoking associations. Study limitations and implications are discussed

Short-term effects of a home-based smoking prevention program on antismoking socialization and smoking-related cognitions: A cluster randomized controlled trial

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the short-term effects of a home-based smoking prevention program called 'Smoke-free Kids' on antismoking socialization and smoking-related cognitions and the moderating role of parental smoking. Participants and Methods: A cluster randomized controlled trial was carried out using one intervention condition compared with a control condition. A total of 1,398 never-smoking children (mean age 10.11 years, SD 0.78) participated. Intention-to-treat and completers-only analyses were performed. Participants in the intervention condition (n = 728) received 5 activity modules by mail at 4-week intervals. Modules included communication sheets for their mothers. Participants in the control condition (n = 750) received a fact-based intervention only. The main outcomes were the frequency and quality of communication, nonsmoking agreement, house rules, availability of cigarettes, perceived maternal influence, anticipated maternal reactions, attitude, self-efficacy and social norms. Results: Significant effects of the program were found for frequency of communication (B = 0.11, p < 0.001), nonsmoking agreement (B = 0.07, p < 0.01), perceived maternal influences (B = 0.09, p < 0.05), self-efficacy (B = -0.09, p < 0.05) and social norms of friends (B = -0.08, p = 0.05) and best friends (B = -0.11, p < 0.05). Parental smoking had no moderating effect. Conclusions: The Smoke-free Kids program shows promising short-term effects on antismoking socialization and cognitions. Long-term follow-up on the effects of smoking behavior are needed

Engaging parents of children with and without asthma in smoking-specific parenting: Results from a 3-year randomized controlled trial evaluation

Item does not contain fulltextThe present study evaluated long-term effects of a home-based smoking prevention program targeting smoking-specific parenting in families with children with and without asthma. A total of 1398 non-smoking children (mean age 10.1) participated, of which 197 (14.1%) were diagnosed with asthma. Families were blinded to group assignment. The intervention group (n = 684) received booklets with assignments that actively encouraged parents to engage in smoking-specific parenting strategies. Control families (n = 714) received booklets containing basic information about youth smoking. Latent growth curve modeling was used to calculate intercepts and slopes to examine whether there was change in the different parenting aspects over the study period. Regression analyses were used to examine whether a possible change was different for intervention and control condition families with and without a child with asthma. For those smoking-specific parenting aspects that changed over time, families in the intervention and control condition increased similarly. Families with a child with asthma did not engage in parenting at higher levels due to the intervention program than parents of non-asthmatic children. This prevention program did not affect smoking-specific parenting in the Netherlands. Future prevention research could focus on other risk factors for smoking initiation among adolescents with asthma. Trial registration: Netherlands Trial Register NTR1465.11 p

The link between asthma and smoking explained by depressive feelings and self-efficacy

Item does not contain fulltextObjective: Adolescents with asthma consistently smoke at higher or similar rates as non-asthmatic peers, although smoking might involve more health risks. This study examined possible mechanisms (i.e. depressive feelings and self-efficacy to refrain from smoking) explaining the association between asthma and smoking initiation. Methods: An indirect path from asthma to self-efficacy through depressive feelings was examined in two independent samples. Sample 1 consisted of 4531 adolescents (mean age 12.8) and sample 2 consisted of 1289 children (late childhood, mean age 10.1). Data were gathered from maternal and self-report. In the adolescent sample, whether the relationship between depressive feelings at baseline and smoking initiation two years post-baseline runs via self-efficacy was also examined. Results: Higher amounts of depressive feelings decreased adolescents self-efficacy to refrain from smoking, which subsequently increased the risk to initiate smoking. A diagnosis of asthma was also associated with higher levels of depressive feelings which in turn decreased self-efficacy. A marginal significant indirect effect was found in the childhood sample. Conclusion: Smoking prevention efforts should start as early as mid to late childhood. The results indicate that focus should be placed on preventing depressive feelings with the aim of increasing children's self-efficacy to refrain from smoking. This is especially important for children and adolescents with asthma

Long-term effects of a home-based smoking prevention program on smoking initiation: A cluster randomized controlled trial

Item does not contain fulltextObjective. The aims of the study were to evaluate the long-term effects of a home-based smoking prevention program 'Smoke-free Kids' during preadolescence on smoking initiation during adolescence and to test the potential moderating role of parental smoking, socioeconomic status, and asthma. Method. In 2008,1478 9-11 year old children and their mothers were recruited from 418 elementary schools in the Netherlands. An independent statistician randomly allocated schools to one of the two conditions using a 1:1 ratio (single blind): 728 children in the intervention and 750 in the control condition. The intervention condition received five activity modules, including a communication sheet for mothers, by mail at four-week intervals and one booster module one year after baseline. The control condition received a fact-based intervention only. Intention-to-treat analysis was performed on 1398 non-smoking children at baseline. Results. In the intervention 10.8% of the children started smoking compared to 12% in the control condition. This difference was non-significant (odds ratio = 0.90,95% confidence interval = 0.63-1.27). No moderating effects were found. Conclusion. No effects on smoking initiation after 36 months were found. Perhaps, the program was implemented with children that were too young. Programs closer to the age of smoking onset should be tested.6 p