The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #42449

Caroline H. Sparks, PhD¹, Michele M. Hodak, BS², Afifa Klouj, MBA³, Samuel J. Simmens, MA, PhD⁴, Carolyn J. Leep, MS MPH¹, Karen A. Williams, MPH¹, and Brynn E. Pierce, MPH⁵. (1) Prevention Research Center, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, George Washington University, 2175 K Street, N.W., Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037, (202) 467-2277, ihochs@gwumc.edu, (2) National Education Association Health Information Network, 1201 16th St. NW, Suite 521, Washington, DC 20036, (3) Biostatistics Center, George Washington University, 2300 I Street NW, Washington, DC 20037, (4) Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, George Washington University, 2300 I St. NW, Washington, DC 20037, (5) Central Oregon Community College, 2595 NW Monterey Pines Dr., Bend, OR 97701

The Prevention Research Center in the School of Public Health and Health Services at the George Washington University and the National Education Association Health Information Network are conducting an evaluation of Kids Act to Control Tobacco (Kids ACT!), an innovative tobacco control advocacy program for middle school students. The importance of middle school years in preventing tobacco use has been documented extensively. Most middle school tobacco-use prevention programs use a social influences or life skills approach. KidsACT! motivates students to become advocates for tobacco-free environments at home, in school and in their communities. Advocacy programs for students are relatively new, unevaluated phenomena for which few measurement instruments exist. Over three years, the advocacy model for Kids ACT! has been field tested and refined and the evaluators have field tested instruments to assess youth advocacy programs. These measures are now being used in an evaluation of the KidsACT! Program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The pilot study has four research objectives: (1) develop a teacher training protocol, train teachers, and observe classrooms to monitor fidelity to the curriculum, (2) test the group randomized design using a small number of schools; (3) further refine the measures, and (4) generate an estimate of intraclass correlation. The presenters will discuss the development and field testing of the measures of youth advocacy in three groups of middle school students,the psychometric work on the instruments, the results of the pilot evaluation study and the design of a more extensive outcome evaluation.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Define key elements of a tobacco control advocacy model;
• 2. Identify key measures needed to evaluate the success of an advocacy-based health promotion program;
• 3. Discuss appropriate designs for evaluating advocacy programs; and
• 4. Understand the results of the KidsACT! Pilot evaluation study.

Keywords: Evaluation, Tobacco

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.