Abstract:

This study was carried out to define the smoking behaviour of primary and high school teachers, and perceptions on smoking at school environment and students’ smoking. Data was gathered by using a questionnaire among 255 female and 199 male teachers teachers (n=454) in 13 primary and 12 high schools (total of 25 schools) in İstanbul. Of all teachers, 41.2% was currently smokers. Smoking rates were similar according to sex. By Fagerstrom Dependency Questionnaire, 9.1% of smokers were found at very high level of nicotine dependency and 38.2% were found at very low level of nicotine dependency. According to 25.2% of all teachers, and 34.2 of non-smokers, school area should be a fully non-smoking area. Smoking at school was acceptable for the rest of the group, with some restrictions. Teachers were asked what they would do if they see a student smoking. The most frequent answers were referring to school counseling service (61.6%), telling the harms of smoking (57.6%), and telling that youth and children should not smoke (43.1%). These results showed that many teachers perceive smoking as an acceptable adult behavior. Perceptions of teachers on smoking as well as high percentage of smoking were found as an important problem. Key words : Cigarette Smoking, School Health

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