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Young people and smoking – evidence on what works in prevention and cessation
Amanda Amos, Professor of Health Promotion, Public Health Sciences
Medical School, University of Edinburgh, UK
Abstract
The Department of Health’s consultation on the future tobacco control strategy for England asked what more could the Government and public services do to reduce smoking prevalence in young people. To help inform the consultation and subsequent policy development the Department of Health commissioned a rapid review on young people and smoking in England. This presentation builds on the linked session (Which young people smoke and why?), to consider future policy options on youth smoking prevention and cessation and the evidence on their likely effectiveness. The review found clear evidence that certain types of policies, programmes and interventions can make significant contributions to smoking prevention.
Comprehensive multi-faceted approaches are the most effective. In contrast some interventions have little or no proven effectiveness, and others are promising but as yet lack a firm evidence base. A hierarchy of different prevention interventions and approaches based on the available evidence will be presented. Gaps will be highlighted including the lack of evidence on interventions aimed at 16 to 24 year olds and limited analyses of intervention effects by socio-demographic variables e.g. gender, socio-economic status. The effectiveness of youth cessation interventions is less clear. The review concluded that the case for investing in these is unproven.
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About the presenter
Amanda Amos is Professor of Health Promotion and Head of Public Health Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. She has been teaching and researching health promotion for over 20 years.
Her research has focused on a range of smoking issues from the individual to community and societal levels.
Her current research includes evaluating the impact of the smoke-free legislation in Scotland and England. She is an associate editor of Tobacco Control and a member of the European Board of INWAT, the Advisory Board of the European Commissions HELP Smoking Prevention Campaign and the Scottish Ministerial Working Group on Tobacco Control.
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