Tobacco-free School Training Program for Teachers and  Tobacco-use among Adolescent Students in the Rural Indian  Context: A Quasi-experimental Study

Nilesh Chatterjee; Rajashree Kadam; Deepak Patil; Kalpana Pillai

doi:10.31557/apjcc.2025.10.2.583-588

Authors

Nilesh Chatterjee Salaam Mumbai Foundation, India. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3467-8771
Rajashree Kadam Salaam Mumbai Foundation, India.
Deepak Patil Salaam Mumbai Foundation, India.
Kalpana Pillai Salaam Mumbai Foundation, India.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31557/apjcc.2025.10.2.583-588

Keywords:

Tobacco, adolescents, schools, tobacco-free school environment, smoke-free school, teacher-training intervention

Abstract

Introduction: The Indian government has implemented laws banning tobacco sales and advertising to children and adolescents and also mandated guidelines for a tobacco-free school (TFS) to create tobacco-free environments. This study investigated the impact of creating tobacco-free schools on actual tobacco use by students.

Methods: The study, using a post-only quasi-experimental design, was conducted in four rural districts of Maharashtra state in western India. Teachers in two intervention districts received annual TFS training for five years, while two comparison districts did not. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 41 schools, at the end of the five-year period, with 536 students in intervention districts and 516 in comparison districts.

Results: Intervention schools reported lesser tobacco use with 14.7% of students self-reporting tobacco use versus 24.2% of students in comparison schools. Logistic regression analysis revealed that lower exposure to TFS, greater peer pressure, and presence of adults using-tobacco at home predicted adolescent tobacco use (p<.001).

Conclusion: Creating a tobacco-free school environment seems to positively impact student tobacco-use behavior. However, combining TFS with assertiveness, refusal, and life-skills training to resist peer pressure and involvement of families will be required for successful tobacco-use prevention.

Author Biography

Nilesh Chatterjee, Salaam Mumbai Foundation, India.

Nilesh Chatterjee works in the area of public health, behavioral science, and social-behavioral change communication (SBCC). He has more than twenty years of experience in conducting both quantitative and qualitative research studies, designing, implementing, and evaluating public health promotion, strategic communication and social-behavioral change interventions. He has worked on SBCC strategic planning for maternal-child and adolescent health, family planning, HIV/AIDS, sanitation and environmental issues, including the Swachh Bharat initiative, tobacco control, and chronic disease prevention for the national and various state governments in India. He has worked with WHO-India, UNICEF-South Asia region, and WHO-SEARO (South-east Asia region) on risk communication for public health emergencies such as H1N1, Ebola, Zika and disaster preparedness planning. He has written monographs, strategic communication planning, training documents, and published numerous articles in various peer-reviewed journals. In addition to India, he has also worked on behavioural science or SBCC projects in USA, Mexico, Bangladesh, and Mauritius.

Nilesh graduated with a MBBS (medical) degree from Mumbai University in 1991. He was in the USA between 1993 and 2006. After completing a Masters’ degree in Medical Sociology from University of Maryland Baltimore County and a PhD in public health (majoring in Behavioral Science) from the University of Texas Health Science Center - Houston, Nilesh worked as Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University, and Adjunct Professor at University of Texas School of Public Health and Texas Woman’s University. He received grants and contracts from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Minority Health (NIH) in USA; and CONACYT in Mexico.

After returning to India, Nilesh worked with the India office of Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (JHUCCP) as Head of Research and Strategic Planning on projects funded by agencies such as USAID, DFID (now UK-FCDO), BMGF (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation). Since 2014, he has worked as a consultant for organizations such as World Bank, WHO, UNICEF. Since the start of his career Nilesh has worked with patients, communities, academic institutions, governments, NGOs, and international development agencies. He currently serves as Research Advisor to Salaam Mumbai Foundation, Mumbai which works on tobacco prevention among youth and as Behavioral Insights Advisor to Group M, a leading media investment company.