Effectiveness of Home-based Interventions to Prevent Passive Smoking in Children: Systematic Review

Abstract

Second-hand smoking (SHS) refers to the act of inhaling burning cigarette smoke or the smoke that smokers exhale. Therefore, SHS is something that does not affect those who are smokers, but those that live, work or share a space with them. There is no situation wherein exposure to SHS does not have negative affect on health, meaning there is no safe dose, no matter how small, according to the ‘U.S’. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020a). Passive smoking can be considered as second hand smoking as this approach doesn’t have any direct influence on smoking habit. Second hand smoking can be termed as the way by which children or any inactive smoker can be affected. Passive smoking causes respiratory diseases in children, leading to death of almost 3.9 million children worldwide each year (World Health Organization,2020). Children below 3 years old demonstrated a 38% excess prevalence of middle ear effusion because of consistent exposure to SHS in households (World Health Organization,2020). Furthermore, 59% of school children (13–15 years) in 90 countries worldwide reported a prevalence of parental smoking in their households (World Health Organization [WHO], 2020). There are various interventions that can be used to reduce or stop the exposure of children to smoking. The National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (n.d.) has introduced a method underlying effective behavioural change techniques for supporting the cessation of smoking. It adopts very brief advice on SHS to trigger such behavioural change techniques. These techniques are diversified and contain information about the adverse consequences of second hand smoking, the underlying barriers and solutions, offering options for later or additional support, providing advice on ways to stop smoking through medications. In this regard, providing reassurance, bolstering motivation and encouraging self-efficiency is more beneficial. According to Rimer-Boston (2016), appropriate motivational technique can mitigate SHS habits among children. The author claims that many people are not aware or up to date on their health issues. Motivational interviews have a strong influence on parents toward reducing smoking rates of children (Rimer-Boston, 2016). With the help of motivational interviews, parents can be made aware of the deadly influences associated with SHS so they can realise the necessity of stopping it(Rimer-Boston, 2016). The following systematic review examines various interventions that aim to reduce children’s exposure to SHS. However, even here, the situation regarding passive smoking or second hand smoking is still worrisome, as there is a high prevalence of SHS across the world.