The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #45086

Debra J. Holden, PhD¹, Cheryl Healton, PhD², M. Lyndon Haviland, DrPH², and Matthew Farrelly, PhD¹. (1) Health, Social, and Economics Research, Research Triangle Institute, 3040 Cornwallis Rd. PO Box 12194, Research Traingle Park, NC 027709-2194, (2) American Legacy Foundation, 1001 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20001

In the spring of 2002, the American Legacy Foundation (Legacy) will conduct a study to collect data from a nationally representative sample of approximately 3000 adults, ages 18 years or older. The study design includes oversamples of African American, Hispanic, and Asian Americans. The survey instrument was derived from a number of existing instruments, including CDC’s Adult Tobacco Survey and the Current Population Survey Tobacco Use Supplement. Legacy’s survey, the American’s Smoking and Health Survey (ASHES), focuses on smoking cessation, knowledge of related health risks, attitudes about tobacco use and environmental tobacco smoke, and exposure to both pro- and anti- tobacco advertisements. ASHES includes a broad array of questions about cessation attempts in the past year and methods for quitting. In addition, the survey characterizes smoker’s stage of change toward cessation, as specified by Prochaska and DiClemente (cite). ASHES is unique to the field because it provides the complete staging information, as well as detailed information on cessation attempts and barriers to quitting. In this presentation, we will present summary statistics of common successful and unsuccessful methods for quitting and characteristics of both former and current smokers. We will also highlight differences across race/ethnicity and gender and how attitudes and beliefs vary for each of these groups of respondents. Learning objectives of the presentation will include an understanding of the complexity of the cessation process among adults and how these factors vary according to different demographic variables.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn about Legacy's Adult Youth Tobacco Survey, why it is important to the field and what data it has provided about cessation to date.

Keywords: Tobacco, Survey