[A review of studies on school-based smoking prevention programs]

Research papers on school-based programs designed to prevent adolescent smoking were reviewed to determine trends in the development of smoking prevention programs as well as measures and methods of evaluation. In the USA and Europe, evaluation studies have demonstrated that the most promising smoking prevention approaches are those that focus primary attention on the psychosocial factors promoting smoking initiation. In Japan, however, most programs have shown little success. The following recommendations are made for improving the methods for evaluating program effectiveness and the future of research orientation of educational program on adolescent smoking. 1) Refinement and standardization of evaluation methods to be valid and feasible for use in studies of Japanese adolescents. 2) Improved study designs for evaluation of program effectiveness which include control groups and long term follow-up. 3) Applying smoking prevention programs which were demonstrated to be effective in the USA and Europe. 4) Development of effective cessation programs for adolescent smokers.