Effectiveness of Interventions to Reduce Exposure to Parental Secondhand Smoke at Home among Children in China: A Systematic Review
Open accessAbstract
There are health consequences to exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS). About two-thirds of children in China live with at least one person, usually a parent, who smokes at home. However, none of the reviews of interventions for reducing SHS have targeted children in China. The purpose of this study was to review the effectiveness of interventions for reducing parental SHS exposure at home among children in China. We searched various electronic databases for English and Chinese publications appearing between 1997 and 2017. Thirteen relevant studies were identified. Common strategies used in intervention groups were non-pharmacological approaches such as counseling plus self-help materials, and attempting to persuade fathers to quit smoking. Family interactions and follow-up sessions providing counseling or using text messages could be helpful to successful quitting. Several encouraging results were observed, including lower cotinine levels in children (n = 2), reduced tobacco consumption (n = 5), and increased quit rates (n = 6) among parents. However, the positive effects were not sustained 3~6 months after the interventions. Self-reported quitting without bio-chemical validation was the most common outcome measure. A study design using biochemical validations, a longer follow-up period, and targeting all people living with children in the same household is recommended.
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Individual or family-centered health promotion interventions that aim to encourage smoke-free homes, often including smoking cessation interventions for parents, have generally had limited effect.
“A range of individual or family-centered health promotion interventions have been implemented that aim to encourage smoke-free homes, often including smoking cessation interventions for parents, although these have generally had limited effect (114, 181).”
From Review of the Impact of Housing Quality on Inequalities in Health and Well-Being (2023) · cites this paper as [181]
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- Authors
- Zhou, Y. H., Mak, Y. W., & Ho, G. W. K.
- Affiliations
- Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (CN)
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
- Corresponding author
- Mak, Yim Wah
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2019-01-03
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 107
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6339015
- OpenAlex
- W2908333559
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 0.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- PolyU Institutional Research Archive (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Keywords
- household smoke exposure, children, smoking cessation interventions, tobacco use, counseling, text messaging, intervention effectiveness, China
- MeSH terms
- Tobacco Smoking, Child, China, Environmental Exposure, Housing, Humans, Parents, Tobacco Smoke Pollution
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