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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health

Sec. Substance Use Disorders and Behavioral Addictions

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1694729

This article is part of the Research TopicAdolescent Smoking, Alcohol Consumption and Psychoactive Substance Misuse in Low-Middle Income CountriesView all 11 articles

School-Based Smoking Prevention Strategies for Adolescents in a Conservative LMIC Context: A Qualitative Study from Egypt

Provisionally accepted
Dr. Maryam  Ba-BreakDr. Maryam Ba-Break1,2*Bridgette  Maree BewickBridgette Maree Bewick3Helen  ElseyHelen Elsey4Reinhard  HussReinhard Huss5Tim  EnsorTim Ensor1,2Mohamed  SalehMohamed Saleh3Sean  DonnellySean Donnelly6Doaa  OsmanDoaa Osman7
  • 1University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
  • 2University of Leeds Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, Leeds, United Kingdom
  • 3School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
  • 4York University, York, United States
  • 5Universal Basic Income Leeds Lab, Leeds, United Kingdom
  • 6Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK, Manchester, United Kingdom
  • 7Public Health and Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Egypt, Assiut, Egypt

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Objective: Adolescent smoking is a critical form of psychoactive substance misuse, particularly in low-and middle-income countries like Egypt, where youth tobacco use remains a public health concern. This study explored current and potential school-based smoking prevention interventions in a conservative low-and middle-income country context, to identify strategies which enhance adolescents' capability, opportunity, and motivation to avoid smoking initiation. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted in three public preparatory schools (boys', girls', and mixed gender) in Asyut, Upper Egypt. Data was collected through 40 semi-structured interviews with school staff, 16 focus group discussions with 76 pupils (aged 12–13), and analysis of 172 school documents. Creative tools including picture-elicitation and story-making were used with pupils. Data was analysed using the framework approach, guided by the Capability-Opportunity-Motivation-Behaviour model. Results: Seven meta-themes were identified. Key strategies included educating pupils on the broad consequences of smoking, including health, appearance, fitness, finances, relationships, addiction, religious values, and equipping them with refusal and coping skills. Interventions should promote smoke-free school and home environments, model non-smoking behaviour, and leverage peer influence. Motivational strategies such as storytelling, real-life examples, reward schemes, and accessible extracurricular alternatives were also emphasised. Barriers included limited resources, cultural taboos, and misinformation around e-cigarettes. Conclusion: School-based smoking prevention interventions in low-and middle-income country settings must be proactive rather than reactive, multi-dimensional and culturally appropriate. Applying the Capability-Opportunity-Motivation-Behaviour model can help schools design integrated interventions that build psychological capability, reshape opportunities, and strengthen both reflective and automatic motivation in early adolescence. The findings have direct implications for public health practice, school policy, and substance misuse prevention programming in resource-constrained and socially conservative settings.

Keywords: Adolescent, Smoking, prevention, Tobacco Control, School-based intervention, COM-B model, Behaviour Change, Egypt

Received: 28 Aug 2025; Accepted: 10 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Ba-Break, Bewick, Elsey, Huss, Ensor, Saleh, Donnelly and Osman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Dr. Maryam Ba-Break, m.m.ba-break@leeds.ac.uk

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