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

Abstract #116776

Jenine K. Harris, MA, Ryan C. Burke, BS, Stephanie H. Herbers, BA, Nancy B. Mueller, MPH, and Douglas A. Luke, PhD. Center for Tobacco Policy Research, Saint Louis University School of Public Health, 3545 Lafayette Ave, Suite 300, St. Louis, MO 63104-1399, 314-977-8210, harrisjk@slu.edu

State tobacco control programs are comprised of a network of public and private agencies with the common goal of reducing tobacco use. Social network analysis is a relatively new tool in tobacco control program evaluation that provides insight into the important factors that contribute to program sustainability. Communication between agencies is one of these important sustaining factors. Indiana and Michigan have both experienced significant changes in their financial and political environments over the last few years which may have influenced communication in their tobacco control programs. The Center for Tobacco Policy Research collected data over a three year period through semi-structured interviews with tobacco control program lead agencies and key partners throughout each state. Measures were both qualitative and quantitative and included: frequency of contact between agencies, network effectiveness, state financial climate (e.g., funding cuts, funding distribution), and state political climate (e.g., legislative and governor support, tobacco industry presence). Using network analysis, contact networks were examined for each state at multiple time points. These networks were placed in the context of the state political and financial climates in order to see how environmental changes were associated with the contact networks over time. This presentation provides additional insight into the effect of dynamic state climates on tobacco control programs. By using network analysis, we can examine program structures as a whole, enabling further understanding of how tobacco control programs change over time and how this may affect program sustainability.

Learning Objectives:

• To describe how social network analysis can be used for program evaluation. To understand how communication networks in tobacco control programs change over time.

Keywords: Network Analysis, Tobacco Control

Related Web page: ctpr.slu.edu/

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.