Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs and Practices Revealed from Focus Group Discussions on Tobacco Smoking among Lebanese and Palestinian School Children in Lebanon

Through the analysis of focus groups, this research identified the students arguments based on knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, practices and social dimensions when discussing tobacco smoking health. Our analysis was based on the World Health Organization recent definitions of comprehensive health education curriculum. Two schools were selected in the same area, a Lebanese Public School and a Palestinian one, to test the hypothesis of possible differences between them, linked to eventual differences in their students health situations. A grid was established to record the arguments. The results were recorded in tables and then commented. The students arguments revealed the need to revise the national textbooks, and teachers to use interactive teaching methods that focus more on life skills, including the knowledge and social or psychological dimensions that strongly emerged during the focus groups.