Changes of campus tobacco control environment and the impact on tobacco control behaviors among secondary school personnel in Shanghai, China

Abstract

Introduction Youth smoking is a serious public health problem. Nevertheless, a rigorous tobacco-free environment within schools, combined with exemplary tobacco control behavior among school personnel can effectively contribute to reducing adolescent smoking. This study compared the tobacco control environment in Shanghai secondary schools in 2017 and 2021, and explored how the tobacco control environment influenced the tobacco control behaviors of school personnel. Methods Two cross-sectional studies were conducted from October to December 2017 and October to December 2021, using stratified cluster random sampling method, and 2403 and 1761 valid questionnaires were collected, respectively. The chi-squared test was used to test the differences between categorical variables. Binary logistic regression was conducted using survey data from 2021 to explore the influencing factors of staff’s tobacco control behaviors. Results Compared with 2017, the percentages of staff members who were current smokers, had smoked on campus in the past year and were exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS) on campus in the past 7 days in 2021 decreased by 2.95%, 2.30% and 8.91%, respectively. However, the proportion of personnel who knew the school had organized tobacco control education decreased. Furthermore, school personnel who had received tobacco control education and agreed the school should strictly prohibit students from smoking (AOR=1.64; 95% CI: 1.25–2.15) were more likely to inform about the harm of tobacco to students. Those who had participated in tobacco control education activities or tobacco control trainings (AOR=1.87; 95% CI: 1.30–2.69) and believed that the school did not strictly prohibit either students (AOR=0.30; 95% CI: 0.22–0.41) or personnel (AOR=0.46; 95% CI: 0.36–0.59) from smoking were more inclined to stop students from smoking. Conclusions Compared with 2017, the rates of smoking and secondhand smoke exposure among school personnel decreased in 2021, but some schools still lacked comprehensive education on tobacco control behaviors for the staff. Enhancing the health literacy and strengthening tobacco control education among staff were effective strategies to encouraging their active adoption of tobacco control behaviors.

Keywords

• secondary schools
• school personnel
• tobacco control environment
• tobacco control behaviors
• secondhand smoke