Most adolescent smokers want to quit
and have made a serious attempt in
the past year (67% of girls and 56% of
boys), but most adolescent quit attempts
are unassisted and unsuccessful.
1–4 Of those who have ever tried to
quit, success is rare (11.5% for girls;
13.0% for boys).1,5 A meta-analysis of
64 teen tobacco-cessation programs
showed an absolute increase in
smoking-cessation rates of only 4.3%.6
Therefore, effective and accessible
treatment approaches are needed.
School nurses are uniquely positioned
to deliver such treatment because they
have the skills and credibility to offer
health-related assistance,7 can provide
ongoing support within the school
setting, and are easily accessed by students
without parental involvement,
transportation, or cost given that
more than 95% of adolescents attend
school.8 Although there is great variability
across school districts and
states regarding the number of school
nurses and the number of schools to
which 1 school nurse is assigned, according
to the National Association of
School Nurses, about half (49%) of
high schools across the country have
at least 1 full-time registered nurse
and another third have a part-time
nurse.9 Also, although most states do
not have a law that mandates a full-time
school nurse for every school building,
as is the position of National Association
of School Nurses, many states do mandate
the provision of nursing services related
to administration of medication,
health assessments, and special medical
procedures.10
In a meta-analysis of 48 adolescent
smoking-cessation trials, at a minimum
of 3 months’ follow-up, cessation
rates were 9.1% for intervention conditions
versus 6.2% for controls.11 Characteristics
of successful programs included
cognitive-behavioral strategies
(goal setting, self-monitoring, development
of coping and problem solving