Abstract 5054: Smoking prevention intervention with school classes at a university hospital by thoracic surgeon und pulmonologist

Purpose: Smoking prevention in schoolchildren with the aim to inform and prevent smoking initiation has been widely studied and has shown variable results. Interventions provided by physicians in a hospital setting have been rarely reported. Here we show the feasibility and gain of knowledge of our smoking prevention project in a hospital setting. Methods: Interventions performed from November 2009 - February 2013 were evaluated. Overall 470 children participated in our preventive intervention. A 7-item questionnaire was provided to the school classes (Grades 6 to 10) before and after a two-hour smoking prevention intervention consisting of anatomical models, oral presentations, videos, patient interviews and hands-on lung function tests. The goal was to show the anatomical and physiological basics as well as age-based information about the harms of smoking. During the intervention the children have been motivated to be actively involved. Class selection has been performed for groups of children in a highly vulnerable phase of age before smoking initiation. Results: The baseline questionnaire was completed by 457 children, the one after intervention by 426. The knowledge about which organs are affected by smoking increased from 6.8-99.6% to 65.5-99.5% (p