Smoking prevention at schools. On the effectiveness of structural prevention activities on adolescent smoking

Aim. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of international research on the effects of structural prevention measures at schools on the smoking behaviour of pupils. Methods. A systematic literature search was conducted using 4 social sciences databases. In total, 11 international publications from different countries were included. Results. The formal adoption of written smoking bans alone does not affect the smoking behaviour of pupils. The implementation of additional activities, particularly regular controls of smoking bans and consequent sanctioning of transgressions, is related to students smoking prevalence. Discussion. Most studies on the effect of structural prevention activities at schools are crosssectional with some methodological problems. On the basis of the results preliminary recommendations are presented.