Effectiveness of integrated change model-based smoking cessation program for high school students

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to develop and to evaluate the effectiveness of the I-change modelbased smoking cessation program for vocational high school students. Methods: A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was conducted. Fifty seven participants from a vocational high school in U city, South Korea participated in the study which was done during March and April 2019. The I-change model-based smoking cessation programs was developed focusing on enhancing awareness, motivation, and ability to stop smoking for use by high school students. The experimental group completed 8 sessions of the I-change model-based smoking cessation program over 4 weeks, while the control group participated in the general school smoking cessation program. Data were analyzed using x2 test, independent t-test, Mann-Whitney U test and ANCOVA with the IBM SPSS 25.0 program. Results: After the intervention, the experimental group demonstrated significantly higher levels of awareness about smoking cessation and self-efficacy, better attitude toward cons of smoking, and more change in the stage of behavior than the control group. There was no significant difference in attitude toward pros of smoking between the two groups. Conclusion: The I-change model-based smoking cessation program is an effective intervention to improve motivation and change in the stage of behavior for adolescents in vocational high schools. The program will contribute to health education for smoking cessation in vocational high schools.