Bahraini school teacher knowledge of the effects of smoking

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking is one of the important health problems among school-age children. Wrong perceptions promoted by tobacco industry sponsorship increase smoking initiation amongst adolescents despite awareness of the risks involved. School teachers’ awareness of the hazards of smoking and school educational programs and curricula on control and prevention of diseases caused by smoking help in discouraging students from smoking. We assessed school teachers’ knowledge of the effects of smoking and attitudes towards smoking. METHODS: Of the 152 schools in the Kingdom of Bahrain with a total of 3360 teachers, a random sample of 49 schools was selected. A questionnaire was distributed to all teachers working in these schools to collect information about their smoking habits and their knowledge of smoking-related health issues. RESULTS: The prevalence of smoking amongst Bahraini school teachers is low (7%). The majority of smokers were males (94%). Only 3.07% of the sample population were ex-smokers. In general the teachers had good knowledge of the effects of smoking on health, but some 9.5% had wrong concepts, believing that smoking does not have any harmful effect. CONCLUSION: School teachers are a main source of health information for students. Therefore, any anti-smoking campaign should involve continuous teacher training to increase their awareness of the hazards of smoking.