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In health education and behavior change interventions, process tracking monitors the delivery of an intervention and its receipt to the intended audience. A randomized controlled trial in the state of Bihar, India was conducted to help school teachers become tobacco free through appropriately designed intervention program and delivery system. We describe the results from process tracking of this intervention delivery. The intervention program was centred on six topics delivered in each school through 12 sessions over 6 successive months. The program deliverers recorded the process measures as total number of sessions and program-components implemented (fidelity); time spent conducting sessions (dose) and proportion of teachers attending at least one session (reach). The outcome measures (teachers' exposure to intervention messages and tobacco policy adoption) were assessed post-intervention. All 12 sessions were delivered in 33 out of 36 schools. Thirty-one schools implemented all six program components. In 18 schools, =95% of the teachers participated in one or more sessions. Thirty-three schools received 12 or more hours of dose. In 29 schools, 100% teachers reported exposure to all program messages. Tobacco policy was adopted by all schools. Thus, the intervention was generally delivered as planned and it had a positive impact on teachers and schools.

CONTEXT: A high prevalence of tobacco use, even among educated professionals like teachers, has been reported from Bihar. After passing of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) in 2003, there have been major improvements in tobacco control nationwide. AIMS: To compare tobacco use prevalence among school teachers in Bihar reported in 2000 with a survey in 2008 and investigate correlates of current and past tobacco-use. METHODS: Data from the baseline survey of a cluster random sample of 72 government schools conducted during the beginning of two consecutive school years was analyzed. RESULTS: The prevalence of current tobacco use was 35.5% and past use, 11.3%. Likelihood of current use compared with no use increased with age (odds ratio [OR] =3.27 for > 50 years compared to < 30, 95% confidence interval [CI]: [1.50, 7.13]); whereas that of past use compared to current use decreased (OR = 0.25, 95% CI: [0.09-0.68] for age > 50 years compared to < 30 years). DISCUSSION: Compared to the tobacco use prevalence among Bihar school teachers reported from a survey in the year 2000 (77.4%), the prevalence in this survey in 2008 was much lower and past use, much higher. In the earlier survey, lal dantmajan was counted as a tobacco product. If we do the same in the current survey, and consider ever use, the prevalence even then was 53.9%, lower than the earlier figure. Although the tobacco use among teachers in Bihar is still high, it has decreased after the implementation of COTPA and the cessation has increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a house-to-house screening survey, 12,212 tobacco chewers and smokers were selected from the rural population in the Ernakulam district, Kerala state, India. These individuals were interviewed for their tobacco habits and examined for the presence of oral cancer and precancerous lesions, first in a baseline survey, and then annually, over a five-year period. They were educated using personal and mass media communication to give up their tobacco habits. The control group was provided from the results of the first five years of a 10-year follow-up study conducted earlier by the authors in the same area with the same methodology but on different individuals without any educational intervention. The stoppage of the tobacco habit was substantially higher in the intervention group (9.4%) compared to the control group (3.2%). A logistic regression analysis showed that the behavioural intervention was helpful to all categories of individuals, however, the effect was different for different categories: intervention was more helpful to men, chewers, and those with a long duration of the habit. These individuals rarely quit their habit without intervention.

In a house-to-house survey, 36 471 tobacco chewers and smokers were selected from the rural population in three areas of India. These individuals were interviewed for their tobacco habits and examined for the presence of oral leukoplakia and other precancerous lesions, first in a baseline survey, and then annually over a 5-year period. By personal advice and via the mass media they were encouraged to give up their tobacco habits. The follow-up rate was 97%. The control cohort was provided by the first 5-year results from a 10-year follow-up study conducted earlier in the same areas with the same methodology but on different individuals without any educational intervention. In Ernakulam district (Kerala) and Srikakulam district (Andhra) substantially more people stopped their tobacco habit and reduced the frequency of tobacco use in the intervention cohort than in the control cohort; in Bhavnagar district (Gujarat) the intervention group showed only a slightly higher proportion stopping their tobacco habits and no difference in the proportion reducing them. The 5-year age-adjusted incidence rate of leukoplakia in Ernakulam district was 11.4 in the intervention group versus 47.8 among men, and 5.8 versus 33.0 among women; and for palatal lesions in Srikakulam district the corresponding figures were 59.8 versus 260.8 among men and 289.5 versus 489.5 among women. In Bhavnagar the incidence rate of leukoplakia did not differ between the cohorts. Since most oral cancers are preceded by precancerous lesions, education on tobacco habits should be a feasible and effective approach to primary prevention of oral cancer.