Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine impact of a smoking prevention education propram on knowledge, attitudes, and refusal skills of 5th grade schoolchildren. Four teaching classes from an elementary schools in Taichung County were recruited, 2 (N=68) were randomly assigned to the experimental group and the other 2 (N=67) were assigned to the control group. The students in the experimental group received smoking prevention education module two 40- minute sessions per week for 3 weeks, but the students in the control group did not. The data were collected by a self-reported questionnaire before after the completion of the intervention. The main findings are as follows:
1. The students in the experimental group significantly increased their knowledge of and attitudes toward smoking prevention but no significant changes were found in the control group.
2. Majority (80%) of the students in the experimental group expressed that they have learnt a lot from the program and 90% hope to join a similar smoking prevention education program again.
Key words?schoolchildren, Smoking Prevention, education