Cpspss: Measuring precontemplator smoking prevention strategies with African American children

Purposes:

This study aimed to develop an instrument to measure smoking prevention strategies with African American children at precontemplation stage of smoking initiation.

Methods:

Thirty African American children who had not smoked in their life time and had no intention of smoking in the future was recruited and participated in audio-recorded focus groups of 3 to 5 children. Content analysis of the transcripts was used to identify and organize themes, which were used to develop the content of the Children Precontemplator Smoking Prevention Strategies Scale (CPSPSS), then the CPSPSS was pilot tested with 16 children. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to assess reliability of the CPSPSS.

Results:

Participants aged 8-11 were asked to specify which items they had difficulty in understanding or had questions about. All students reported that they were able to understand the meaning of each item. Study results showed that most children were unable to differentiate between 6, 5, and 4-point scale but didn't have difficulty to place their point of view on 3- point scale. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the CPSPSS was 0.77.

Conclusions:

Research findings supported that the CPSPSS with a total of 20 items, 3-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 from “never” to 3 for “always” was appropriate to be used with African American children who are at precotemplation stage of smoking and also suggested that it had acceptable face validity and reliability. The CPSPSS may contribute to the development of effective community-based smoking prevention intervention for school-aged African American children.