Specchio Riflesso. A multidimensional intervention for the primary prevention of cigarette smoking during pre-adolescence

Journal title PSICOLOGIA DELLA SALUTE
Author/s Dario Monzani, Marco D’Addario, Alessio Gamba, Daniela Giangreco, Luca De Lucia, Alice Bescapè, Antonella Imperatori-Gelosa, Michela Oleotti, Marco Alloisio, Patrizia Steca
Publishing Year 2019 Issue 2019/1 Language Italian
Pages 18 P. 138-155 File size 276 KB
DOI 10.3280/PDS2019-001008
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

Smoking is very common among adolescents; nowadays, young people start smoking very early, before being 15 years old. Effective primary prevention interventions are needed to contrast tobacco use in young age. For these reasons, the section of Milan of the Italian League for the Fight Against Cancer has developed Specchio Riflesso (SR), an innovative intervention based on the social theatre methodology and aimed at promoting preadolescents’ self-reflection on their identity and their role within a group and facilitating their critical reflection toward tobacco smoking. Aim of this contribution was to evaluate its effectiveness. One hundred and ninety-one students were involved in SR, consisting of two sessions in the first class and two sessions in the second class of the secondary school. Positive and negative emotions and attitudes toward smoking, and self-efficacy to resist peer pressure and to express opinions have been assessed trough questionnaires. A group of 324 preadolescents not involved in SR has been compared to the experimental group undergoing intervention. Results attest the efficacy of SR to diminish the attractiveness of cigarettes, by counteracting the formation of positive emotions and attitudes toward smoking and promoting higher assertiveness and self-efficacy to express opinions. To sum up, SR is an effective intervention to prevent tobacco use in secondary school. .

Keywords: Tobacco use, preadolescence, primary prevention, attitudes, self-efficacy

  1. Agnoli S., Pittarello A., Hysenbelli D. and Rubaltelli E. (2015). “Give, but give until it hurts”: The modulatory role of trait emotional intelligence on the motivation to help. PloS one, 10(6): e0130704.
  2. Awaisu A., Mohamed M.H.N., Aziz N.A., Sulaiman S.A.S., Noordin N.M., Muttalif A.R. and Mahayiddin A.A. (2010). Tobacco use prevalence, knowledge, and attitudes among newly diagnosed tuberculosis patients in Penang State and Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tobacco Induced Diseases, 8(1), 3.
  3. Bungay H. and Vella-Burrows T. (2013). The effects of participating in creative activities on the health and well-being of children and young people: a rapid review of the literature. Perspectives in Public Health, vol. 133, 1: 44-52. DOI: 10.1177/175791391246694
  4. Botvin G.J. and Griffin, K.W. (2015). Life skills training: A competence enhancement approach to tobacco, alcohol, and drug abuse prevention. In Scheier L.M. (ed.), Handbook of adolescent drug use prevention: Research, intervention strategies, and practice (pp. 177-196) American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
  5. Bruvold W.H. (1993). A meta-analysis of adolescent smoking prevention programs. American Journal of Public Health, 83(6): 872. DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.83.6.87
  6. Cambi F. (2008). Le pedagogie del Novecento. Roma-Bari: Laterza.
  7. Caprara G.V., Delle Fratte A. e Steca P. (2002). Determinanti personali del benessere nell’adolescenza: indicatori e predittori. Psicologia Clinica dello Sviluppo, 2: 203-233. DOI: 10.1449/118
  8. Caprara G.V., Steca P., Gerbino M., Paciello M. and Vecchio G.M. (2006). Looking for adolescents’ well-being: Self-efficacy beliefs as determinants of positive thinking and happiness. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 15(1): 30-43. DOI: 10.1017/S1121189X0000201
  9. Chen X., Fang X., Li X., Stanton B. and Lin D. (2006). Stay away from tobacco: a pilot trial of a school-based adolescent smoking prevention program in Beijing, China. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 8(2): 227-237. DOI: 10.1080/1462220060057647
  10. Innocenti Malini G.E. (2016). Bibliografia sul teatro sociale. Centro di Cultura e iniziativa teatrale “Mario Apollonio”, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, 2016.
  11. DOXA (2016). Rapporto Nazionale sul Fumo. Istituto Superiore di Sanità.
  12. ESPAD (2011). 2011 ESPAD – European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs Report. ESPAD.
  13. Fonagy P. and Target M. (2001). Attaccamento e funzione riflessiva. Milano: Raffaello Cortina.
  14. Grazzani I., Corti I., Ornaghi V., Antoniotti C. and Pepe A. (2015). Regolazione delle emozioni, autoefficacia emotiva ed empatia: una ricerca in preadolescenza. Psicologia Clinica dello Sviluppo, 3(dicembre): 429-448. DOI: 10.1449/8177
  15. Hodge K., Danish S., Martin J. (2012) Developing a Conceptual Framework for Life Skills Interventions. The Counseling Psychologist, XX(X): 1-28. DOI: 10.1177/001100001246207
  16. Kendler K.S., Myers J., Damaj M.I. and Chen X. (2013). Early smoking onset and risk for subsequent nicotine dependence: A monozygotic co-twin control study. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 170(4): 408-13.
  17. Lancaster T., Stead L., Silagy C. and Sowden A. (2000). Regular review: Effectiveness of interventions to help people stop smoking: findings from the Cochrane Library. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 321(7257): 355.
  18. Mayer J.D., Salovey P. and Caruso D.R. (2004). Emotional intelligence: Theory, findings, and implications. Psychological Inquiry, 15, 197-215.
  19. Meier K.S. (1991). Tobacco truths: The impact of role models on children’s attitudes toward smoking. Health Education Quarterly, 18: 173-182. DOI: 10.1177/10901981910180020
  20. Moylan S., Gustavson K., Karevold E., Øverland S., Jacka F.N., Pasco J.A. and Berk M. (2013). The impact of smoking in adolescence on early adult anxiety symptoms and the relationship between infant vulnerability factors for anxiety and early adult anxiety symptoms: The TOPP study. PloS One, 8(5), 1.
  21. NIEBP (2013). Prevenzione Primaria del Fumo di Tabacco. Network Italiano Evidence based Prevention.
  22. Peirson L., Ali M.U., Kenny M., Raina P. and Sherifali D. (2016). Interventions for prevention and treatment of tobacco smoking in school-aged children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Preventive Medicine, 85: 20-31.
  23. Pirie K., Peto R., Reeves G.K., Green J. and Beral V. (2013). The 21st century hazards of smoking and benefits of stopping: A prospective study of one million women in the UK. Lancet, 381(9861): 133-141. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61720-
  24. Premack D. and Woodruff G. (1978). Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1(4): 515. DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X0007651
  25. Steca P., Abela J R.Z., Monzani D., Greco A., Hazel N.A. and Hankin B.L. (2014). Cognitive Vulnerability to Depressive Symptoms in Children: The Protective Role of Self-efficacy Beliefs in a Multi-Wave Longitudinal Study. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 42: 137-148.
  26. Teatro Sociale Marche (2017). Cosa è il Teatro Sociale? Retrieved from http://teatrosocialemarche.com/il-teatro-sociale/ il 09.10.2018.
  27. Thomas R.E., McLellan J. and Perera R. (2013). School-based programmes for preventing smoking. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (4): 1.
  28. Turbin M.S., Jessor R. and Costa F.M. (2000). Adolescent cigarette smoking: Health-related behavior or normative transgression? Prevention Science: The Official Journal of the Society for Prevention Research, 1(3): 115-124. DOI: 10.1023/A:101009422156
  29. USDHHS (2004). The 2004 United States surgeon general’s report: The health consequences of smoking. New South Wales Public Health Bulletin, 15(5-6): 107.
  30. USPSTF (2013). Primary Care Interventions to Prevent Tobacco Use in Children and Adolescents: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement. Ann Intern Med, 159: 552-557.
  31. Watson D. and Clark L.A. (1994). THE PANAS-X. Manual for the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule – Expanded Form. The University of Iowa.
  32. WHO (1993). Life skills education for children and adolescents in schools. In Life skills education for children and adolescents in schools (pp. 2Pts-in).
  33. WHO (2003). Skills for health: An important entry-point for health promoting/child-friendly schools, Geneva.
  34. Winnicott D.W. (1971). Playing and Reality. London: Tavistock, Routledge classics (trad. it.: Gioco e realtà. Roma: Armando, 2005).

Dario Monzani, Marco D’Addario, Alessio Gamba, Daniela Giangreco, Luca De Lucia, Alice Bescapè, Antonella Imperatori-Gelosa, Michela Oleotti, Marco Alloisio, Patrizia Steca, Specchio Riflesso. Un intervento multidimensionale di prevenzione primaria del tabagismo nella preadolescenza in "PSICOLOGIA DELLA SALUTE" 1/2019, pp 138-155, DOI: 10.3280/PDS2019-001008