A Brief Report on School Pupils’ Perception Regarding Anti-smoking Messages
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/etdhr/v2/3302EKeywords:
Anti-smoking messages, school pupils’ perception, COVID, school textbooksAbstract
We report here on the schoolchildren’s perception of anti-smoking messages (ASM). First study (SI) was conducted in the private school in 2016. The total of 58 ninth-and tenth-graders, of both sexes, were recruited in the study. The second study (SII) was conducted in the same private school in 2022, in the period of the burst of COVID in Georgia. The total of 61 ninth-and tenth-graders, of both sexes, were recruited in the study. In both, SI and SII, participants received typed anti-smoking messages (ASM) such as following 1. Smoking changes the color of teeth, 2. Smoking causes a bad breath, 3. Smoking makes skin spotted, 4. Smoking causes lung cancer, 5. Stories of smoker, died of smoking and 6. Smoking causes sexual impotency. ASM were accompanied with relevant illustrations. Participants were instructed to decide, if ASM is convincing to stop smoking and to score each type of ASM. Score 1 corresponded to “not convincing at all” and score 5 - “convincingly strong”. School Biology textbooks for ninth-and tenth-graders were analyzed regarding the anti-smoking information, presented in the text. In the SI, ASM 1, 2 and 3 was scored much higher as compared to the 4, 5 and 6. The data obtained may be ascribed to the special concern of teenagers with their appearance. No significant difference in the scores between ASM 1,2,3,4 and 6 was found in the SII. Presumably, living in stressogenic situation makes schoolchildren more sensitive to ASM, concerning the risk of smoking for life threatening diseases and loosing life. School Biology textbooks were found to contain information on the negative influence of smoking on body organs with relevant inscriptions. Story of famous actor, died of smoking was represented in one textbook. Only one textbook was found containing information about the effect of smoking on appearance. For further improvement of anti-smoking propaganda targeted at school pupils, we recommend to highlight the negative influence of smoking on kids’ appearance in the health educational information, included in school textbooks.
