Smoking prevention for secondary high school students in Borj Al-Barajinah

Abstract

This is a Master of Public Health practicum project which took place in Beirut, specifically in Borj-Al-Barajinah area, inside one of the branches of Al-Iman high schools belonging to the Islamic Education Society. The project’s aim was to spread awareness regarding the effects of tobacco smoking between secondary students in Al-Iman High school, for them to have a better anti-smoking attitude. The project’s objectives were to assess the participants’ knowledge about the topic, to give them weekly awareness sessions, and to evaluate the effectiveness of such a project. Since the project’s target is secondary school students, the only demographic data collected at the beginning of the project was the gender of the participants, along with a contact number to be followed up on WhatsApp. In addition, brief pre-test surveys were filled in by the participants to assess their knowledge and to plan for a proper intervention. Throughout the project, five awareness sessions were given to the participants on a weekly basis, and they were given the chance of having all their inquiries answered via WhatsApp. After which, posttest surveys were filled in by the same participants to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. The results and the outcomes of this project showed that it increased the students’ knowledge about the effect of smoking and to have a minimal anti-smoking attitude; thus, achieving its aim.