Prevalence and factors related to second hand smoking exposure, knowledge and response among adolescents in rural Puducherry

Kalaiselvy Arikrishnan; Gokul Sarveswaran; Yuvaraj Krishnamoorthy; Manikandanesan Sakthivel; Marie Gilbert Majella; Subitha Lakshminarayanan

doi:10.1515/ijamh-2019-0014

Article

Prevalence and factors related to second hand smoking exposure, knowledge and response among adolescents in rural Puducherry

Kalaiselvy Arikrishnan , Gokul Sarveswaran , Yuvaraj Krishnamoorthy , Manikandanesan Sakthivel , Marie Gilbert Majella and Subitha Lakshminarayanan

Published/Copyright: June 9, 2020

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From the journal International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health Volume 33 Issue 3

Abstract

Objectives

To determine the prevalence of Second Hand Smoking (SHS) and assess the factors related to exposure, knowledge and response to SHS among adolescents in rural Puducherry, South India.

Methods

A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among adolescents during March and April 2018. Two out of four villages were selected randomly and all the adolescents were contacted through household visit and questionnaire was administered. Semi structured questionnaire contained three sections: sociodemographic details, environmental assessment and third section contained knowledge about SHS, COTPA and response towards being exposed to SHS, as well as exposure history. Continuous variables like age were summarized as mean (SD). Categorical variables such as awareness, attitude and practise towards SHS were summarized as proportions with 95% confidence interval.

Results

Total number of adolescents interviewed was 789. The mean age of the study participants were 14.1 (2.4) years and majority, 440 (55.8%) were boys and 684 (86.7%) belonged to nuclear family. More than one fourth, 210 (26.6%) belonged to middle class of socio-economic status. Environmental assessment of household showed more than half, 456 (57.8%) were staying in pucca house and majority 642 (81.4%) had adequate cross ventilation. It was found that about 70.1% had adequate knowledge about SHS and its harmful effects. Prevalence of exposure to SHS was 49%. Majority (40.5%) told that they will scold or advice the family member to stop smoking if they are exposed to SHS in the living place. However, almost 80% of adolescents mentioned that they will no’t react if they see someone smoking in a public place.

Conclusions

Current study found that almost half of the adolescents were exposed to SHS. Even though, almost three fourth had adequate knowledge, attitude towards preventing SHS in public place was found to be poor. Hence, adolescents need to be motivated enough to address the problem in the public place through motivational counselling in adolescent clinics by health care workers.

Key words: adolescent; environmental exposure; tobacco smoke pollution

Corresponding author: Gokul Sarveswaran, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, 605008, India, E-mail: gokul.ranjith12@gmail.com

Funding support: Nil.
Conflict of Interest: None declared

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Received: 2018-12-19

Accepted: 2019-02-17

Published Online: 2020-06-09

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/ijamh-2019-0014

Keywords for this article

adolescent; environmental exposure; tobacco smoke pollution