Facts on teenage smoking (FAQs)

- How many adolescents smoke in Europe? Are there more and more smoking teenagers?
- What works best in cessation?
- How can we motivate adolescents to participate in smoking cessation actions?
- What cessation interventions are there in my country?

How many adolescents smoke in Europe?
Are there more and more smoking teenagers?

Information on prevalence rates of adolescent smoking in Europe and its changes over time can be found on the home page of ESPAD– the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs: http://www.espad.org.

ESPAD is a collaborative effort of independent research teams in about forty European countries and the largest cross-national research project on adolescent substance use in the world. On the website you can also generate customized graphs for countries of your interest.

What works best in cessation?

Steve Sussman and Ping Sun from the University of Southern California have carried out an extensive review of 64 studies on teen tobacco use cessation that is freely available on the website of the Journal “Tobacco Induced Diseases”: http://www.tobaccoinduceddiseases.com/content/5/1/3

Based on this review the authors make the following suggestions:
- Cessation programming should be delivered in a context which is structured for youth, such
  as the school, sports club, or health clinic, because youth tend not to impose structured
  situations on themselves (e.g., by keeping an appointment book)
- Programming should consist of at least 5 sessions
- Programming should be as fun as possible, involving games, dramatizations, and use of
  alternative medicine concepts. Youth will want to remain in a program that is interesting.
- The contents of teen cessation programming should emphasize cognitive-behavioral,
  motivation theory-related, and some social influences contents. For example, awareness of
  the changes that gradually occur as a function of continued smoking (e.g., increased stress,
  decreased mood) and quitting (e.g., decreased stress, improved mood) need instruction,
  along with means to help motivate youth to overcome ambivalence toward quitting.
  Instruction on how to avoid or counteract cigarette smoking social influence situations
  should be instructed. Also, methods of quitting and how to cope with stressful situations
  more effectively should be instructed. It is not clear whether programming that combines all
  three types of programming would be superior, or whether different programming might be
  relatively effective with different youth (e.g., at different durations of lifetime smoking) but,
  for the time being, it might be best to combine elements of each.
- Tentatively, programming that monopolizes numerous channels of communication would
  appear best. Thus, use of classroom based programs, or school-based clinics, supplemented
  with computer based modalities, parent groups, mass media messages, or any other
  modalities that could be supported within a community, would be of most promise.

Citation:
Sussman, S. & Sun, P. (2009). Youth tobacco use cessation: 2008 update. Tobacco Induced Diseases, 5(1), 3.

ACCESS-partners have listed recommendable interventions for adolescent smoking cessation in their countries.
Link to “National smoking cessation programs”

How can we motivate adolescents to participate in smoking cessation actions?

To find out more about this is the main goal of ACCESS and we hope to gain new knowledge during the project. The project coordinator, Dr. Anneke Bühler from the IFT in Munich, Germany, has presented some first ideas on the subject in her speech at the kick-off-meeting of the ACCESS project.

What cessation interventions are there in my country?

ACCESS-partners have listed recommendable interventions for adolescent smoking cessation in their countries.