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Drawing on what works: The development of a Pennsylvania youth movement
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Livia Fortunato, MS,
Research & Evaluation Group, Public Health Management Corporation, Philadelphia, PA
Kristin O. Minot, MS,
Research & Evaluation Group, Public Health Management Corporation, Philadelphia, PA
Background: The Pennsylvania Alliance to Control Tobacco (PACT) is currently working with the Pennsylvania Department of Health to initiate a new statewide youth movement. To inform their proposed work, PACT looked to neighboring states for ideas and lessons learned before designing a movement plan. PACT evaluators also examined measures, scales and limitations cited in youth movement literature. The result is TRU, Pennsylvania's Tobacco Resistance Unit. TRU seeks to meaningfully involve youth 12-18 in its mission to protect Pennsylvania's youth from all tobacco and nicotine products. Evaluation Methods: A mixed-method evaluation of TRU will be ongoing. Process data, qualitative feedback and outcome data will be collected and used to inform mid-program changes. Changes in youth skills (e.g., leadership, communication, planning, etc.) and youth action success will be regularly discussed. Expected Findings: Youth involved in the movement will create and deliver messages to their counterparts and policy makers, influencing awareness, knowledge and, if successful, behavior. It is expected that the voices and actions of TRU youth will positively influence tobacco-related policy and other Pennsylvania youth; TRU youth will be agents of change. Next Steps: TRU will begin training and recruiting youth and adults in 2013. PACT will continue to collaborate with youth, state Departments of Health in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and West Virginia, local organizations, and national and federal agencies to roll out the movement. Youth and seasoned tobacco control advocates will actively shape TRU with their ideas and feedback so that the movement can be coordinated statewide and tailored regionally.
Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning
Learning Objectives:
Describe how multiple states helped to inform the youth movement and its evaluation.
Explain the on-the-ground and virtual structures of the youth movement.
Discuss the current findings and next steps of the youth movement.
Keyword(s): Tobacco, Advocacy
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Alliance to Control tobacco and Director of the project described.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
