Tobacco and Alcohol Use and the Impact of School Based Antitobacco Education for Knowledge Enhancement among Adolescent Students of Rural Kerala, India

Objectives. Limited information is available on adolescent tobacco and alcohol use in rural Kerala, the southernmost state in India. The study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of tobacco and alcohol use among adolescent school students and further to understand the extent of knowledge pertaining to tobacco before and after conducting awareness programmes in schools. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 10 government schools of rural Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala state based on a multistaged sampling design. Using a pretested semistructured questionnaire, prevalence and patterns of tobacco use by students and their households, as well as students' knowledge on tobacco hazards before and after delivering antitobacco messages, were collected. Results. The overall prevalence of self-reported ever users of tobacco in the current academic year was 7.4% (95% CI 5.86-8.94), while that of ever alcohol users was 5.6% (95% CI 4.25-6.95). Knowledge assessment scores revealed a significant increase in the mean knowledge scores after posttraining evaluation (mean score = 10.34) when compared to pretraining evaluation (mean score = 9.26) (p < 0.0001). Conclusion. Apart from antitobacco awareness programmes, strict monitoring of trade of tobacco and alcohol products near educational institutions has to be conducted consistently to curb the problem.