In 1997, the Arizona Department of Health Services funded the Arizona CHAMPS Peer Project for Tobacco Use Prevention. It is a statewide tobacco education program that postulates youth peer pressure can be a good thing, when it is directed against the use of tobacco. This program, which is available to all Arizona elementary and middle schools, uses the CHAMPS (Champs Have and Model Positive Peer Skills) Peer leadership model to train and empower students to become a positive force in the fight against tobacco use. Once they are trained, the youth form Student Action Teams and are provided with the tools and resources necessary to implement tobacco prevention activities among their peers, families, and communities. The three CHAMPS goals are: (1) to prevent the initiation of tobacco use by Arizona youth, (2) to reduce the number of youth who become regular (current) tobacco users, and (3) to increase knowledge about the health consequences of tobacco use. The number of schools that agreed to participate in the baseline (B) or/and follow-up (F) youth surveys as either a CHAMPS or comparison school in each of the three years are: 11 (B only) in 1997-98, 25 (B&F) in 1998-99, and 59 (B&F) in 1999-2000. The number of students who completed the surveys are: 1,139 (B only) in Year 01, 1,412 (B&F) in Year 02, and 3,709 (B&F) in Year 03). The results of the three-year evaluation will be presented.
Learning Objectives: The participants will gain insight into what has been achieved by the CHAMPS project.
Keywords: Tobacco, Peer Education
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