A QUASI EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON PEER-BASED TOBACCO INTERVENTION TO PREVENT SMOKING INITIATION AMONG NON-SMOKING SECONDARY-SCHOOL GOING MALE ADOLESCENTS.

Background: A multitude of studies revealed that smoking is a behaviour learned and initiated during adolescence. Therefore, reducing the smoking initiation among adolescents has been recognised as one of the long term measures to reduce smoking-related health problems. The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a peer-based intervention in preventing smoking initiation among school-going male adolescents. Materials and Methods: This study use a quasi-experimental study design and involve school-going adolescents from selected secondary schools in the state of Negeri Sembilan. A total of 760 non-smoking adolescents per group will be recruited into the study based on a 50% of difference in the rate of smoking initiation between the control and intervention group. The outcome variable iss incidence rate of smoking initiation. Both intervention and control groups will receive health education materials on smoking, but for the intervention group, a peer-based intervention which also involve students who are elected by their peers, is introduced. Descriptive statistics will be used to illustrate the characteristics of respondents, Chi Square analysis will be perform to analyse differences in the incidence of smoking initiation at the end of the study. Statistical inferences were made using two-sided hypotheses and at alpha level of 0.05. Expected outcome: This study will be able to determine the effectiveness of the peer-based intervention, which can then be expanded and integrated with others interventional programmes in reducing the incidence rate of smoking initiation school-going adolescents in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]