The Statewide Youth Initiatives against Tobacco were funded by the American Legacy Foundation (Legacy) to address tobacco prevention and control through youth involvement. Twelve program states began implementation in 2000. The goal of the program is to create statewide coalitions that implement tobacco control initiatives through the leadership of youth, through local or regional implementation. All of these efforts are to be ‘youth led, and youth driven’. Research Triangle Institute, Prospect Associates, and RAND work together as the Coordinating Center for Evaluation and Applied Research to oversee the evaluation of Legacy’s efforts. The Center has been involved in the development of a conceptual framework for youth empowerment, since it is a primary outcome. This conceptual framework was used to provide guidance in the development of a survey to measure youth empowerment within the context of these community-based programs. An extensive literature review was conducted to help draft the instrument by identifying potential items and standardized scales. Expert reviewers then provided guidance into refining the instrument, which was pilot tested among groups of youth involved in tobacco control. The pilot test also included analysis of youths’ understanding of the questionnaire. This process helped to define empowerment through the perspective of youth, in order to incorporate their voice into the evaluation planning for these projects. Data from these efforts will be reviewed in the context of how findings can be used to further refine the definition of youth empowerment and measure the construct in the adolescent population in the tobacco control context.
Learning Objectives: To describe the process of instrument development for youth empowerment, as it applies to the area of tobacco control; To provide quantitative and qualitative results collected through the draft instrument during pilot testing; and, To discuss lessons learned through the process of pilot testing and suggest revisions to the instrument and conceptual framework for defining youth empowerment.
Keywords: Youth, Tobacco Control
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.