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Children as change agents in influencing adults’ behaviors: a case study to decrease children’s exposure to secondhand smoke at home in Vietnam

Huong Thi Thanh Le, Margaret Cook, Anh Vu Le, Mike Capra

Abstract

Children are considered as change agents in influencing others, and then can help people surrounding them, especially their family members to have healthy behaviors. This paper aimed to describe roles of children as change agents in influencing smoking behaviors of adults from in-home to outdoor smoking. The study applied quasi-experimental design with case and control groups, and combined with qualitative survey. The sample included 804 children aged 8 to 10 (397 in intervention and 407 in control group) in 2 primary schools in Chuong My district, Hanoi from 2011-2014. Results showed that at post-intervention, the prevalence of children exposed to secondhand smoke in the intervention group significantly decreased to 59.8% as compared to 86.4% at pre-intervention, while the control group exhibited no change. Children were considered to have roles as change agents in persuading and negotiating with adults to change their smoking behaviors and had supports from adults, especially their mothers. They may have faced some risks such as being scolded or being shouted by smokers but the cases were very rare, and their mothers acted a very important role in accompanying children to avoid similar situations. The study suggested to expand this intervention into other relevant primary schools.

Keywords

children, change agent, exposure, tobacco smoke, households, Vietnam

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References

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