1. Seven 10 Kate Blackburn, Public Health Specialty Registrar
Sarah Heathcote,
Public Health Commissioning Manager,
Bath & North East Somerset

2. Seven 10
The impact of a college-led social norms project on the perception of smoking amongst students at Bath City College.

3. Outline of session Smoking and Young People Bath City College
Social Norms Theory
Ownership and Production
Methodology
Results
Conclusions
Limitations
Next steps

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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

9. Press & Posters

10. Facebook campaign

11. Coffee Cups

12. 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.

13. Conclusions
Encouraging results but what is long term impact on shift in perception?
Setting the guinea pigs free – the benefits of co-production 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

14. Limitations Sustaining Senior leadership commitment
Coordination of such a large staff and student body
Timescales for delivery
Systems for tracking quitters in the future

15. Any questions?