School-based smoking prevention programme by the Institute for Gender Research in Medicine (GiM) at Charité Berlin
Smoking prevention and health promotion at primary schools in Berlin
Smoking remains one of the most important preventable causes of illness and premature death. Nicotine dependence is also associated with a severe reduction in quality of life [1,2].
A smoke-free life can give children an average of 10 extra years of life and a lifetime of better quality of life, physical and mental health [3]!
To date, smoking is more common among children and adolescents of lower socio-economic status, e.g. with lower income or education levels of parents. In the long term, smoking contributes to these children having a lower quality of life even as adults, developing more illnesses and dying earlier [4,5]The nachvorn project aims to prevent children and young people from starting to smoke and vape, as well as the transition to regular consumption. It also aims to promote a healthy lifestyle and help improve children's health in the long term.
In particular, it is also intended to reach those schools that operate under high socio-structural pressure and are not usually able to benefit from prevention programmes. This means that the prevention programme can also reach and protect those children who are at a higher risk of consumption due to their living conditions. Smoking is now more or less equally common among boys and girls in Germany [5]. Nevertheless, the motivations and risk and protective factors differ for both groups [6,7]. nachvorn is intended to explicitly address the different needs of boys and girls.
As part of the accompanying evaluation study, we are investigating the effects of the school programme on pupils' motivation to be smoke-free, as well as their subsequent smoking behaviour. We are also investigating the extent to which gender- and diversity-specific differences can be seen with regard to the important risk and protective factors, as well as the intervention effects.
The nachvorn project is funded by the German Heart Foundation with around 350,000 euros. The patron of the project is Prof. Volkmar Falk, Medical Director of the German Heart Centre at Charité (DHZC).
nachvorn workshops at primary schools in Berlin
Supporters from sports, film and social media
Well-known personalities from the fields of sport, film and social media support the students with videos created especially for the project. In these videos, they not only provide mental support and practical tips for realising their plans to stay smoke-free, but also present a special creative challenge that encourages the students to create their own promotional photos for a "smoke-free life".
More about the project, team and news
[1] GBD 2015 Risk Factors Collaborators. (2016). Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990-2015: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. Lancet (London, England), 388(10053), 1659–1724. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31679-8
[2] Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum. (2020). Tabakatlas Deutschland 2020. Pabst Science Publishers.
[3] Strandberg, A. Y., Strandberg, T. E., Pitkälä, K., Salomaa, V. V., Tilvis, R. S., & Miettinen, T. A. (2008). The effect of smoking in midlife on health-related quality of life in old age. Archives of Internal Medicine, 168(18), 1968. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.168.18.1968
[4] Hanewinkel, R., & Hansen, J. (2023b). Regional socioeconomic deprivation in Germany and nicotine use among children and adolescents. International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2023.2195155
[5] Hoebel, J., Kuntz, B., Kroll, L. E., Finger, J. D., Zeiher, J., Lange, C., & Lampert, T. (2018). Trends in Absolute and Relative Educational Inequalities in Adult Smoking Since the Early 2000s: The Case of Germany. Nicotine & Tobacco Research: Official Journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, 20(3), 295–302. https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntx087
[6] Vigna-Taglianti, F., Vadrucci, S., Faggiano, F., Burkhart, G., Siliquini, R., Galanti, M. R., & Eu-Dap Study, G. (2009). Is universal prevention against youths’ substance misuse really universal? Gender-specific effects in the EU-Dap school-based prevention trial. J Epidemiol Community Health, 63(9), 722–728. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2008.081513
[7] Grard, A., Schreuders, M., Alves, J., Kinnunen, J. M., Richter, M., Federico, B., Kunst, A., Clancy, L., & Lorant, V. (2019). Smoking beliefs across genders, a comparative analysis of seven European countries. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1321. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7700-6
[8] Vidrine, J. I., Anderson, C. B., Pollak, K. I., & Wetter, D. W. (2006). Gender Differences in Adolescent Smoking: Mediator and Moderator Effects of Self-Generated Expected Smoking Outcomes. American Journal of Health Promotion, 20(6), 383–387. https://doi.org/10.4278/0890-1171-20.6.383