Assessment of Prevalence and Psychosocial behaviour of Tobacco Addictive School going Children with Awareness for Deaddiction

Abstract

Background: Tobacco addiction is an emerging as a big threat among children in developing countries and it is increasing day by day. Tobacco use is the world’s leading cause of death, accounting for 4.9 million deaths per year. Tobacco is addictive in all forms and causes behavioural changes and it increases the risk of cancer, heart attack, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, osteoporosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes and adverse reproductive outcomes. So, it is necessary to find out addiction prevalence, problems and highlights possible role of Ayurvedic principles. Aim: To assess the prevalence and psychosocial behaviour of tobacco addictive school going children with awareness for deaddiction. Method:  Study was conducted on 300 school students of age group 6 years to 16 years of Z.P. schools of Sawangi and Salod, Wardha, Maharashtra. Study was grounded on WHO Questionnaire Based Survey. Observation: Out of the 300 students, all 109 children-36% were taking smokeless tobacco in different forms and no one was taking smoke tobacco in the form of Bidi or Cigarettes. They were educated with hazardous effects of tobacco and counselled for deaddiction. Stopping sales of tobacco to children would be an important step. Conclusion: Prevalence of tobacco addiction-36% with 67% impact on psycho-social behavioral was observed which is much higher. They were fell apart from non-addictive students due to strong aroma of these products, also not actively taking part in other school activities due to lack of interest. The habit- forming impact was so aggravated that 82 % students were tried to give-up this habit but not succeeded, therefore, anti-tobacco educational sessions for parents, teachers and students were taken by audio-visual power point presentation.