Community interventions for preventing smoking in young people: A Cochrane systematic review

Background: Cigarette smoking is one of the leading causes of preventable death in the world. Decisions to smoke are often made within a broad social context and therefore community interventions may be effective in influencing the smoking behaviour of young people. Aim: To determine the effectiveness of multi-component community based interventions in influencing behaviour and preventing smoking in young people. Method: We searched the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction group specialised register, online databases and bibliographies of included studies in November 2013. Randomised controlled trials, controlled clinical trials and time-series studies assessing the effectiveness of multi-component community interventions designed to prevent smoking in young people (> 25 years) were included, with data abstraction by two independent researchers. Results: Twenty-six studies from 4109 citations met the inclusion criteria. One study reported a reduction in short-term ( 12 months. Conclusion: There is some evidence to support the use of community programs to prevent smoking among youth. Rigorous trials evaluating social media for delivering these prevention messages need to be performed.