PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Maria Malik
AU  - Ashok Kumar
AU  - Shaista Ghazal
AU  - Quratul Ain Malik
AU  - Umair Misbah
AU  - Nadeem Rizvi
TI  - Comparison of knowledge, attitude and practice of tobacco use among private (Pvt) and public (Publ) high school teachers and their policies
DP  - 2013 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P1031
VI  - 42
IP  - Suppl 57
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P1031.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P1031.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2013 Sep 01; 42
AB  - Background:Teachers being very influential can alter their student’s perception on smoking drastically.Objectives: To compare knowledge,attitude and practice of tobacco use among Pvt. and Publ. high school teachers and their Policies.Methodology:A cross sectional study, done in Karachi,Pakistan using WHO global professional survey Questionnaire.Results:Out of 1000 questionnaires distributed,652 teachers responded (53.8% Pvt,46.2% Publ).Cigeratte use was more common in Pvt(25.7%) than Publ(21.2%) with 8% Pvt and 6.6% Publ teachers using it in school.Smokeless tobacco was seen more in Publ teachers with 29.8% using it on premises(0.000). Pvt teachers taught more about hazards of tobacco as primary responsibility than Publ (0.002).On youth tobacco use 50.3% Publ and 10.9% Pvt teachers showed no concern(0.000) with 19.9% Publ and 13.7% Pvt teachers refusing to admit their influence on students tobacco use(0.015).Publ teachers were more unaware of harmfulness of passive smoking(0.000),lacked the knowledge that tobacco is addictive(0.007) and were unaware it causes heart diseases(0.019). School policy of tobacco use on students was negated by 49.7% Publ and 22.3% Pvt teachers,results were similar in school personnels(0.000).Absence of tobacco use prevention in curriculum was admitted by 37.4% Pvt and 55.6% Publ teachers (0.000) while 95.4% Publ and 90.3% Pvt teachers had no training to prevent its use (0.009).Conclusion:Tobacco use is prevalent in Pvt and Publ school teachers with later being more serious.Effective educational programs,school policies and training are required for teachers so they can educate students and prevent this dilemma.