Study 1. Programme assessment in 6 States to assess weaknesses and barriers in programme
implementation in order to derive suggestions for improvement in these countries. After the
end of the Smokefree Class Competition in school-year 2007/2008 teachers in Poland, Slovak
Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Romania were asked about implementation and their
experiences with the project. Some excerpts from the results are included in Newsletter 3.
Study 2. A randomised control group study is being carried out in Eastern Germany. The
study examines the long-term effectiveness of the programme as well as the influence of school
smoking policies and class climate on the programme’s effects. The four-wave trial was started
in the school-year 2006/2007 with the baseline assessment prior to the 2006/2007 competition in
October 2006, the second assessment after the end of this competition period in May 2007 and
two follow-up assessments in October 2007 and June 2008 (prior and after a possible repeated
participation in the 2007/2008 competition). 208 classes with 3,494 students were included in the study.
Study 3. Another randomised control group study is being carried out in Poland in the
school-year 2007/2008. Like in the German study, the aim of the study is to examine the
effectiveness of the competition on pupils smoking behaviour and the delay of onset in smoking
in pupils. Two assessments were carried out in the school year 2007/2008 – the first prior to
the beginning of the competition in winter 2007/2008, the second after the end of the competition
in summer 2008. All together, 1,577 students from 143 classes were included in the study.
Currently, data of these studies are analysed. Results will be available soon.