Facilitating conditions for staff’s confidence to enforce school tobacco policies:qualitative analysis from seven European cities

Background: School staff members’ consistent enforcement of school tobacco policies (STPs) is needed to decrease adolescent smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke. Staff’s confidence, indicating their perceived ability to cope with students’ negative responses, explains variations in staff’s STPs enforcement, yet understanding of the determinants for confidence is lacking. We analyzed the conditions in which the staff feel confident in addressing students who violate STPs to support staff’s enforcement. Methods: Data consists of 81 semi-structured interviews with the staff members from 26 secondary schools in seven European cities in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, and Portugal. In every city, 3–4 staff members (senior management, teachers, supportive staff) in 3–4 schools (academic–vocational, high–low SES area) were interviewed. Transcripts were analyzed with thematic analysis. Results: When staff felt confident in their ability to prevent, diminish, or handle students’ negative responses, they were more likely to address students on STP violations. The staff was more confident (1) when consistent policy enforcement within school and regarding the wider society ensured staff legitimacy for STPs enforcement, (2) when dialog and mutual familiarity with students allowed the staff to facilitate constructive interaction with STP violators, and (3) when organizational backup structures provided staff collegial support to overcome challenges in the enforcement. These conditions would support consistent enforcement, especially with persistent misbehavers and among the more uncertain staff members.Conclusions: Our study stresses the need to implement strategies at multiple levels to strengthen staff’s confidence for STP enforcement. To support staff’s legitimacy for enforcement, we suggest reinforcing structures and practices that facilitate consistency in STP enforcement; to support staff’s ability for constructive interaction with STP violators, we suggest strengthening staff’s social and emotional learning; and to support staff’s experience of collegial support, we suggest reinforcing staff’s collective ability to cope with students’ negative responses.</p

Facilitating conditions for staff’s confidence to enforce school tobacco policies : qualitative analysis from seven European cities

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Smoking beliefs across genders : a comparative analysis of seven European countries

Background: Most European countries have seen a decrease in the prevalence of adolescent smoking. This decrease has, however, been patterned by gender. Girls smoking rates have now overtaken boys’ in many European countries. Yet, both genders may not share the same smoking beliefs, which could explain differences between the genders in smoking prevalence. We describe gender differences in smoking beliefs and investigate variations between countries along with their gender context. Methods: In 2016, we conducted the SILNE R study in 55 schools located in seven European countries: Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Finland, Ireland and Germany. We surveyed 12 979 students of 14-16 years old (48.5% of girls). We classified smoking beliefs into four categories: positive individual, positive social, negative individual and negative social beliefs. We expected girls to score higher on 3 last categories, and we hypothesized that countries with a more gender-equal culture would have less gender difference in beliefs about smoking. Results: One out of two smoking beliefs differed significantly between genders. Negative social beliefs were more common in girls, while beliefs about the dating-related aspects of smoking, were more common in boys. We identified Germany and Belgium as the only countries with no gender differences in any of the belief scales. No correlation was found, however, between these scales and the GINI index of gender inequalities. Conclusions: In some countries, gender-specific interventions might be implemented, however two opposing strategies might be used, depending on whether such programs are addressed to boys or to girls

The impact of school anti-tobacco policies on adolescent smoking behavior: a collective lifestyles perspective

Introduction School anti-tobacco policies (SAPs) that limit smoking during school hours are increasingly common. Notwithstanding, adolescents may continue smoking by adapting the patterns in where, when and with whom they smoke, and the social meanings about why. We therefore aimed to identify and understand which patterns occur and how these collective smoking lifestyles may contribute to persisting smoking at schools implementing SAPs. Methods Methods A qualitative design was used to compare two Dutch vocational schools with a contrasting smoking prevalence. Four focus group discussions were held with adolescents who smoke or were susceptible to smoking. Fourteen interviews were held with individual adolescent smokers. The analysis focussed on identifying the collective smoking lifestyles in each school. Results The high prevalence, in contrast to the low prevalence, school implemented strict SAPs and adolescents perceived a strong anti-smoking norm. Two collective smoking lifestyles at the high prevalence school were identified. ‘Dependent smoker’: smoking in a large group at the official smoking area helps to deal with stress and nicotine addiction. ‘Rebellious smoker’: smoking in friendship groups outside the school premises expresses toughness. Three collective smoking lifestyles at the low prevalence school were identified. ‘Social bonding smoker’: boys’ daily smoking outside the premises is an indispensable part of group membership that creates a smoking-tolerant environment. ‘Good smoker’: girls’ occasional smoking outside the premises for so-called personal pleasure prevents others from thinking they are addicted or smoke to impress. ‘Smoking-friendly event smoker’: adolescents smoking only after school hours at smoking-friendly events makes them feel free to smoke without risking social consequences. Conclusions Collective smoking lifestyles may decrease SAPs’ impact by allowing adolescents to collectively adapt their smoking patterns and the social meanings for justifying these patterns. These collective smoking lifestyles are less persistent when SAPs limit adolescents’ opportunities to adapt their smoking patterns and adolescents perceive a strong anti-smoking norm