Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #106325

Sharon Zack, MS¹, Jennifer Weil, MA¹, Susanna Nemes, PhD², Jeffrey Hoffman, PhD², Kelly Munly, MS¹, and Jose Melendez, BA². (1) Danya International Inc, 8737 Colesville Road, Suite 1200, Silver Spring, MD 20910, 301-565-2142, szack@danya.com, (2) Danya International, Inc., 8737 Colesville Road, Suite 1200, Silver Spring, MD 20910

Each day, more than 4,000 U.S. children smoke their first cigarette. Although the nation's schools are providing students with some tobacco education, there is still a need for schools to improve their current tobacco programs. In response to this need, agencies such as the CDC have developed seven recommendations to assist educational settings in delivering tobacco prevention messages to both children and adolescence. Unfortunately, despite these recommendations, few schools are implementing programs that meet each of the CDC's criteria. To assist schools in implementing tobacco prevention curricula that meet the CDC criteria, Danya International, Inc., with funding from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) has designed a multifaceted, innovative school based smoking-prevention package entitled Students Making Advertisements to Reduce Tobacco (StartSMART). The SMART program utilizes a social marketing approach to deliver tobacco prevention education. Using a strong theoretical framework to guide knowledge and skill development, SMART enables students to observe, learn, and participate in delivering positive tobacco prevention messages. StartSMART will incorporate all CDC guidelines into a single package by including a tobacco prevention curriculum for middle school youth; a teacher training; parent support materials; teen cessation resources including a support website; and a school administrator's guide on implementing tobacco free polices. During the phase II project period, Danya researchers evaluated the eight-session curriculum, youth workbook, and accompanying video. Preliminary results of this outcome evaluation will be presented. In addition, several completed session activities will also be displayed.

Learning Objectives:

• At the end of this session, the participant will be able to list at least three curriculum-based activities used in an innovative youth tobacco prevention program.

Keywords: Tobacco, School-Based Programs

Related Web page: www.teenquit.com

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.