Effect of Community-Based Health Education Campaign Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior on Reduction of Hookah Smoking Among Women in Hormoz Island in the South of Iran

Hookah smoking is considered a health problem in women and interventions should be designed to reduce it. This study aimed to explore the effect of an educational campaign based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) on the reduction of hookah smoking.

This quasi-experimental research was conducted on 177 female hookah smokers above 15 years of age residing in Hormoz Island. The data collection instrument contained two sections: demographic information and the constructs of the TPB. The questionnaire was completed twice, before the educational intervention and 3 months after the intervention. The educational campaign was conducted by making cell phone calls, putting up billboards, distributing pamphlets, holding face-to-face classes, and forming a peer group. The data were analyzed using paired-sample t-test, and McNemar’s test in SPSS version 23.0.

The mean age of the participants and the beginning age of smoking hookahs among the participating women were 34.16 ± 10.47 and 22.20 ± 8.45 years, respectively. After the educational campaign, there was a significant increase in the scores of the TPB constructs (attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, behavioral intention) and a reduction in hookah smoking among participants (P < 0.05). Moreover, the frequency of smoking hookah per month and per week showed a statistically significant reduction among the participants after the administration of the educational campaign (P <0.05). During this time, 6 participants stopped smoking hookah.

In the light of the present findings, it can be concluded that the conducted educational campaign based on the TPB significantly reduced hookah smoking among girls and women.