Life skills
Health education: Tobacco use prevention
When applied to the issue of tobacco use prevention, one or a combination of life skills can enable students to:
- resist peer pressure to use tobacco (e.g., decision making, communication skills, coping with emotions)
- resist pressure to use tobacco without losing face or friends (e.g., decision-making, communication skills, interpersonal relationship skills)
- identify social factors that may influence them to use tobacco and to decide how they will personally deal with those influences (critical thinking, problem-solving, decision making)
- inform others of the dangers and personal reasons for refraining from tobacco use (communication, self-awareness, interpersonal relationship skills)
- effectively request a smoke-free environment (communication skills)
- identify and counter persuasive messages in tobacco advertisements and other promotional materials (critical thinking, communication skills, self awareness)
- support persons who are trying to stop using tobacco (interpersonal relationship, coping with emotions, coping with stress, problem solving)
- cope with tobacco use by parents and others (interpersonal relationship skills, coping with emotions, coping with stress, problem solving)
For more information on a skills-based approach to tobacco use prevention, see:
Tobacco Use Prevention: An Important Entry Point for the Development of a Health-Promoting School, WHO School Health Information Series, WHO, Geneva.
Tobacco Use Prevention Fact Sheets, Programs That Work, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA
