Here4You-Footsteps... building the future: an action research project to prevent tobacco consumption in the 3rd Cycle

Introduction Tobacco is the first preventable cause of morbidity and mortality, and should be targeted at younger age groups, with the school being considered as a privileged space for this intervention. The project “ Here4You - Footsteps…Building the future – Health Promoting School “ aims to enable 3rd cycle students to make responsible decision making in the prevention of tobacco consumption by building knowledge, attitudes, skills regarding healthy lifestyles, and behaviours related to risk factors associated with tobacco use. Objectives To disclose the gains from the development of the project. Methods Project developed in partnership between the School of Health of Santarém, as Health Promotion School - Health Indicators Monitoring Unit, and the Community Care Unit of Chamusca/Golegã. It is inserted in the methodology of Action Research: Diagnosis, Planning, Intervention and Evaluation, in the 7th and 8th years, from 2015/2016 until 2018/2019. The Global Youth Tobacco Survey, Portuguese version, was used at the beginning (7th year) and at the end of the intervention (8th year). Results 460 students were interviewed, with 279 sessions of health education in the classroom context. All the sessions were evaluated, using a questionnaire that integrates questions related to the contents and a grid of opinion about the session, constituted by 5 items, with scores between [5; 25]. In the last edition of the project, 13% of 7th graders said they had already smoked and, in the previous one, 10% of the students said they smoked, the lowest value found. Conclusions In order to foster complementarity and convergence solutions to generate positive synergies, the intervention occurred in the classroom in the different disciplines. Obtaining health outcomes implies a consistent and continuous intervention that accompanies the students throughout their formative course. With the GYTS it has been possible to evaluate the impact of the developed intervention.