Parents’ narratives toward smoking in the home following a second-hand smoke story-telling education intervention

There is a strong link between cigarette smoking and socio-economic status, with three-quarters of children living in disadvantaged communities being exposed to second-hand smoke. The present study examined parents’ views of smoking in the home after they had been involved in a story-telling education intervention within a nursery environment. Thematic Analysis was conducted to pool together rich data about parents’ attitudes and perceptions of smoking in the home during semi-structured interviews that took place following participation in an education intervention. Emergent themes identified that the story-telling intervention was useful to parents who felt that it might assist in protecting children from the dangers of second-hand smoke. Participants welcomed the story-telling resource used in the intervention and communicated that this allowed for reflection on their own smoking behaviour. Novel findings from this research highlighted how children positively influence their parents into making effective health behaviour decisions in relation to smoking practices. Parents still require information on the dangers posed by second-hand smoke and future research is necessary to adapt a measurable quantitative story-book intervention used for a wider and more diverse family context.