Bihar School Teachers Study (BSTS)

BRIEF SUMMARY: This study, which is closed to enrollment, is testing the efficacy of a tobacco-control intervention geared towards school teachers in Bihar, India. This cluster randomized trial aims to promote tobacco use cessation among teachers and increase tobacco policy adoption in 72 Bihar schools. Teachers are the focus of the study because as role models for youth and key opinion leaders related to community norms, they represent an important group for tobacco control. Teachers in Bihar also have reported high rates of tobacco use. According to the Global School Personnel Survey conducted in 2006, 39% of teachers in the eastern region of India (which includes Bihar) use some form of tobacco, compared to the national average of 29%. This study aims to reduce these numbers through discussion groups with teachers, individual cessation counseling, educational materials, and a tobacco policy workgroup in each intervention school. This study is a collaboration between US researchers and researchers at the Healis-Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health, Mumbai India.