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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Stephanie May, MS, CHES, Tobacco Use Prevention Program, Maricopa County, 3838 N. Central #1600, Phoenix, AZ 85236, 602-372-8416, stephaniemay@mail.maricopa.gov

The Maricopa County Tobacco Use Prevention Program (MACTUPP) offers free cessation classes along with Nicotine Replacement Therapy at half off the retail cost. These classes are promoted in a variety of ways by related MACTUPP programs including physician visits, community events and media, and referrals through worksite wellness programs. MACTUPP was not able to determine the success of these promotions; therefore a referral collection system as part of the cessation class registration database was developed. This system would allow MACTUPP to determine the most effective measures of promotion, provide feedback to those programs about their success, and increase cessation class registration. In fiscal year 2004-2005, MACTUPP found that out of 2,930 registrations, the highest number of clients came from worksite referrals (663), followed by physician referrals (575), and then by community health promotions including events and media(557). Other types of referrals came from friends and family members, former clients, health insurance and other sources. MACTUPP was also able to utilize the information gathered about physician referrals to create a physician database to thank physicians that refer to the program and track which health care providers had attended continuing education training on tobacco offered by MACTUPP. Additionally, with the referral information, MACTUPP was able to provide feedback to the Promotions team to help them make decisions on which media promotions were most effective. Finally, MACTUPP is the only program in Arizona to provide information to the statewide worksite wellness program regarding numbers of clients reached by their cessation referrals.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Develop unique strategies to promote cessation programs
• 2. Understand the benefits of a computerized database system to track referrals

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered