The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #61016

Eileen M. Eisen-Cohen, MSW, ABD, Division of Chronic Disease and Tobacco Control, Maricopa County Tobacco Use Prevention Program, 1 North 1st Street, Suite 700, Phoenix, AZ 85004 and James R. Allen, MD, MPH, Division of Chronic Disease and Tobacco Control, Maricopa County Department of Public Health, 1845 E. Roosevelt Street, Phoenix, AZ 85006, 602-372-8424, jrallen@cox.net.

Tobacco use among youth 10-18 has with the advent of tobacco-tax funded prevention programs decreased in Maricopa County, Arizona. The Maricopa County Tobacco Use Prevention Program (MACTUPP) provides a model for building effective school based programs by developing school capacity to institutionalize prevention efforts. Despite efforts to work with schools and departments of education, many states still struggle not only to implement but also to institutionalize tobacco use prevention. The Maricopa County program model targets students from fourth through eighth grades by working with selected staff in schools and school districts to implement the key components of tobacco use prevention, including the CDC-recommended guidelines and effective prevention criteria approved by CSAP and USDOE. This model program creates a system with a site-based coordinator in each participating school who institutionalizes the program within that school. Small annual grants ($2000) to each participating school support the program, including purchase of effective, research-based materials. Each student in the targeted grades receives intensive intervention education varying from 10-15 hours per year. This program builds capacity for prevention at the school level while allowing site-based flexibility and is both a cost effective and staff effective model to create widespread effective programming. This workshop will include all the program and evaluation materials needed to replicate this program. Evaluation results and method will be presented and discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the key components of a cost effective strategy to build capacity in elementary/middle schools to provide effective tobacco use prevention programs. Examine funding protocols and program materials for schools as well as the organizational challenges in institutionalizing school-based programs. Describe evaluation methods, tools and results.

Keywords: School-Based Programs, 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.