The Educational Preventive Programme for Younger Schoolchildren, „It‘s Normal not to Smoke“.

This research article introduces a new pr1‘ тагу preventive programme of health Pr0 motion for young schoolchildren and presents the results of testing the efficacy of the programme in pilot schools. This p r o g r a m m e is intended for children in the first grade о primary schools and is presented in the con text of other principles of a healthy lifesty such as healthy nutrition, sufficient physic exercise, mental health and so on. An experiment was used to ascertain the el‘ficaC^ of the programme. Thirteen primary scho were involved in the study, The experimen^ tal and control groups were roughly compa rable in size (273 vs 203). The efficacy the programme was tested using a structured interview carried out by trained personnel before intervention, after intervention and again after four months. The aim was to identify the children‘s level of knowledge and attitudes to smoking. The children‘s home environment was also identified in regard to smoking behaviour. The programme improved children‘s knowledge of the risks of smoking and strengthened their positive view of nonsmoking. It confirmed that children with smoking parents have a more positive attitude to smoking.