The effect of the teacher and three different classroom approaches on seventh grade students' knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about smoking.

EDRS PRICE MF-$0.25 HC-$0.90 *ATTITUDES, *BEHAVIOR CHANGE, EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS, HEALTH EDUCATION, *INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS, JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, PILOT PROJECTS, *SMOKING, TEACHER EDUCATICN, TEACHING METHODS THE PREMISE, THAT CIGARETTE SMOKING IS HAZARDOUS TO HEALTH., IS THE BASIS Cr THIS STUDY. THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY WAS TO CAUSE A SHIFT IN BEHAVIOR FROM THE "PRESMOKER" OR "SMOKING EXPERIMENTER" TOWARD THE "NONSMOKER" FATHER THAN THE SMOKER. THE GENERAL CONCEPT, THE CIGARETTE SMOKING HABIT IS A HEALTH HAZARD OF SUFFICIENT IMPORTANCE FCR YCUTH TO RESIST THE PRESSURE TO SMOKE, WAS USED TO DEVELOP A UNIT IN SMOKING FOR SEVENTH GRADERS. A PILOT STUDY WAS CCNDUCIED USING A FIVE LESSON UNIT ON SMOKING EDUCATION. THREE DIFFERENT APPROACHES WERE USED: (1) THE INDIVIDUAL APPROACH, (2) THE PEER-LED APPROACH, AND (3) THE TEACHER LED APPROACH.. TEACHER PREPARATION WAS ALSO TESTED, A REGULAR CLASSROOM TEACHER AS OPPOSED TO ONE HAVING BEEN TRAINED IN SMOKING EDUCATION. A TOTAL OF 575 SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS PARTICIPATED. RESULTS INDICATE (1) THE TEACHER LED APPROACH APPEARED TO BE MOST EFFECTIVE IN SITUATIONS WHERE GOOD DISCUSSION WAS POSSIBLE, PEER-LED WAS MORE EFFECTIVE IN SMALLER SIZE CLASSES; (2) REGULAR CLASSROOM TEACHERS WERE MORE EFFECTIVE; (3) GIRLS MADE A MORE SIGNIFICANT CHANGE TOWARD NON-SMOKING THAN BOYS; AND (4) IN GENERAL, THE FIVE LESSON EXPERIMENTAL EDUCATION UNITY CHANGED ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS ABOUT SMOKING. (SK) 15 11 CO Cs *14 T ° ttrg " 3. g 2 E ;