Meeting the challenges of implementing process evaluation within randomized controlled trials: the example of ASSIST (a stop smoking in schools trial)

This article describes how a public health focused peer support programme in schools was evaluated in a manner seen as an alternative to a randomised control trial (RCT). Year 8 students in Wales (12-13 years old) were trained to encourage non-smoking behaviour through informal conversations with their peers. The article describes how the programme addressed some evaluation issues such as Hawthorne effects, overlapping roles within the team and distinguishing between the intervention and its evaluation. Please note this article does not have a lay summary and has been written for an academic audience.