The effects of air quality feedback and health promotion to reduce second-hand smoke exposure among Indian primary schoolchildren in Selangor

Ihsan, Nadhirah Balkist (2019) The effects of air quality feedback and health promotion to reduce second-hand smoke exposure among Indian primary schoolchildren in Selangor. [Project Paper] (Submitted)

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Abstract

Introduction: Exposure of second-hand smoke (SHS) to schoolchildren due to parental smoking at home is a main public health concern as children are vulnerable to ill-health effects arising from chemicals from tobacco. Approximately half of Malaysian schoolchildren are exposed to SHS due to their parental smoking at home. Therefore, by providing feedback of air quality in homes coupled with health promotion to smoking parents may be able to encourage parents to not smoke around their children at home. Objectives: This study aims to determine the effects of intervention which is air quality feedback and health promotion to reduce SHS exposure among Indian primary schoolchildren in Selangor. Besides, to determine and compare the knowledge of smoking parents before and after intervention. Methods: This is an intervention study conducted among seven households of Indian ethnic group. The air quality was measured using Dylos DC1700 for 8-h in homes. Dylos DC 1700 is specifically able to measure and differentiate PM2.5 released from cigarette smoke using laser based particle counter. From Dylos DC1700 measurements, the graph of PM2.5 was illustrated by AFRESH Software in which for every peak exceeds 25μg/m3 with slow decay shows the SHS coming from cigarette. The measurement was conducted twice in which the post measurement one day gap after the pre measurement. Health promotion was coupled with air quality feedback of the first measurement as a tool to increase the knowledge of smoking parents on SHS and its effects on children's health. After both air quality feedback and health promotion were conducted, the post knowledge of smoking parents on SHS and its effects was assessed. Results: The result showed that the average of PM2.5 in each house is 34.96 (19.26) μg/m3 exceeding the 24-h guidance limit by WHO which is 25 μg/m3. The highest PM2.5 recorded was 71 μg/m3 . In the post-measurement, the average decreased to 19.76 (9.92) μg/m3 . However the differences was not significant. The knowledge on SHS among smoking parents also showed significant increase with the median of 42.86 (71.43) to 91.84 (14.29). Conclusion: The knowledge among smoking parents has been found to increase in this study after air quality feedback and health promotion were conducted. This study will be able to encourage smoking parents not to smoke around their children with a larger sample population. This study suggests to carry out measurement for 24 h to obtain accurate results that can be compared with existing standards. The intervention should involve other family members such as wives as they will be able to give motivational supports to the smoking fathers to at least not to smoke in house. Keywords: Second-hand smoke, parental smoking, schoolchildren, air quality feedback, health promotion, PM2.5

Item Type:	Project Paper
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Faculty:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Science
Depositing User:	Ms Norafizah Radzuan
Date Deposited:	25 Jul 2025 01:37
Last Modified:	25 Jul 2025 01:37
URI:	http://psaspb.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/2492

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