The effect of the educational intervention on empowerment of male high school students in prevention of smoking

ABSTRACT

Background

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of the educational intervention on empowerment of male high school students in the prevention of smoking through promoting their problem-solving skills, general self-efficacy, self-control, and self-esteem.

Method

It is a quasi-experimental study using 300 male high school students (150 in the experimental group and 150 in the control group). The data collection tools included demographic information, a checklist for preventive behaviors, and a questionnaire about problem-solving skills, self-control, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. The questionnaire was completed by the experimental and control groups before and six months after the intervention. The educational intervention for the experimental group included six educational sessions of 45–50 min in small group discussions, question and answer, practical demonstration, videos, PowerPoints, and booklets.

Results

The results of the study showed that before the educational intervention there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding problem-solving skills, self-control, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and preventive behaviors. However, six months after the intervention, the experimental group showed a significant increase.

Conclusions

This study revealed the effectiveness of the educational intervention on empowerment of male high school students in prevention of smoking through promoting their problem-solving skills, general self-efficacy, self-control, and self-esteem.

KEYWORDS:

• Smoking
• problem-solving skills
• self-control
• self-efficacy
• self-esteem

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fasa University of Medical Sciences.