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Seven 10
Kate Blackburn,
Public Health Specialty Registrar
Sarah Heathcote,
Public Health Commissioning Manager,
Bath & North East Somerset
Seven 10
The impact of a
college-led social
norms project on
the perception of
smoking amongst
students at Bath
City College.
Outline of session
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Smoking and Young People
Bath City College
Social Norms Theory
Ownership and Production
Methodology
Results
Conclusions
Limitations
Next steps
Smoking and Young People
 Estimated annual costs to society of smoking in Bath
& NE Somerset £39.9 million (ASH)
 Cigarette smoking is most often initiated during
adolescence
 Importance of understanding the social context of
smoking initiation among young people
 Benefit in focusing efforts on influencing young
adults to quit as evidence of encouraging cessation
rates among this group
Bath City College
 2010 survey >50% students smoking,
of these 21% started whilst at the
college
 2012 survey 35% smoking prevalence
(17% started at college)
 DPH Award provided a process for
the college to set, measure, and
achieve outcomes
 Context of college becoming smoke
free by 2020
 Commissioners keen to show case a
‘whole college’ initiative
Social Norms Theory
 Social norms approach was first
suggested in 1986 (Perkins &
Berkowitz, 1986)
 Our behaviour is influenced by
incorrect perceptions of how other
members of our social group think
or act.
 ‘Misperception’ is the term used to
describe the gap between actual
attitudes and behaviours and what
people THINK the true attitudes
and behaviours are.
 Promotion of accurate perceptions
to influence positive behaviour
change.
Ownership & production
 Ownership at senior level within college
 Opportunity for the college to work as a whole
setting across departments and with students and a
wide range of partners
 ‘Setting the guinea pigs free’ (Smith & Henry, 2009)
deliberate shift away from top-down instigated
change -enabling the college to ‘do’ by developing
skills and confidence and the conditions to ‘try it out’.
 Development of other benefits including skills,
confidence and enthusiasm.
Methodology
 Baseline online survey
 Perception that 56% of
students smoke – actually 28%.
 65% of smokers wanted to quit,
31% would like help.
 Student engagement and ideas
 Brand identification
 Delivery
 Final survey
 Local media coverage
Press & Posters
Facebook campaign
Coffee Cups
Results
 Initial survey found that students believed 56% of
their peers smoked (CI 51% - 61%)
 Final survey found that this had now changed to a
belief that 43% of their peers smoked (CI 36% - 50)
which would suggest a significant shift in perception.
 45 new drop ins for initial consultation for smoking
cessation, 40 returned for a second appointment.
Conclusions
 Encouraging results but what is long term impact on
shift in perception?
 Setting the guinea pigs free – the benefits of coproduction in the field of social marketing/social
norms
 Need for further research to assess impact on
behaviour and to explore the interplay of social and
environmental factors on students future smoking
trajectories
Limitations
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Sustaining Senior leadership commitment
Coordination of such a large staff and student body
Timescales for delivery
Systems for tracking quitters in the future
Any questions?