New Partners: Head Start Staff Implementing Smokefree Home and Smoking Cessation Interventions

Background: Children's exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) is a major contributor to childhood illnesses. In order to address this health issue, the focus of this study was to partner with a Head Start Program in Schuylkill County, PA to train their staff to deliver an intervention to reduce children's exposure to SHS and to encourage parents to quit smoking.

Methods: We used a pre-post test design to assess the impact of a brief training on how to help parents develop smokefree homes and encourage them to quit smoking. The training session was for HeadStart employees using an established curriculum called FRESH (Family Rules for Establishing Smokefree Homes).

Results: There were a total 83 HeadStart staff that participated in the training: 98% female, 22% were ex-smokers and 28% were current smokers. Following the training, staff members reported a significant increase in their comfort level with talking about the dangers of SHS (t=-5.75,p<0.001) and the importance of quitting smoking (t=-5.18,p<0.001) when compared to baseline. There was also a significant increase in staff's beliefs that it is their responsibility to speak with families about the dangers of SHS (t=4.93,p<0.001), that most smokers would like to quit (t=10.09,p<0.001) and that they are prepared to help families develop a smokefree home (t=9.46,p<0.001) and to help smoking parents to quit smoking (t=10.20,p<0.001).

Conclusion: Efforts to advance smokefree homes and encourage smoking cessation must take advantage of existing community-based programs to increase the potential for sustainability and to encourage trust among smokers interested in quitting.