An Online Learning Module Focused on Smoking Education and Prevention for College Students: Implications for College Health Instructors and Allied Health Professionals

The purpose of this research was to pilot-test the effectiveness of an online learning module focused on smoking for an undergraduate general education fitness and wellness course. Students enrolled in a required fitness and wellness course were given the opportunity to participate. Participants (n = 510) completed a brief demographic questionnaire and a 10-question pretest about the effects of smoking before viewing a 15-minute presentation about the effects of smoking and completing the same 10 questions as a posttest. Repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted to evaluate knowledge gains. An overall time effect was observed (pretest score 4.9 ± 1.3, post-test score 7.2 ± 2.1). Significantly greater knowledge gains were found in nonsmokers (2.1 ± 2.2) than in smokers (1.1 ± 2.2). Females (2.3 ± 2.3) had significantly greater knowledge gains than males (1.5 ± 2.2). Evidence supporting the effectiveness of the online learning module included significant knowledge gains for both smokers and nonsmokers, and the participants who smoked agreed the online learning module encouraged them to quit. In this research, students were also grouped by major (health-related majors vs non-health-related). There were 118 health-related majors in the sample, with 110 of those students completing the entire learning module. In this research, a learning module for college students was developed, but practical applications are provided not only for college health instructors but also for allied health professionals.