Millions of children alive today will one day suffer and die from tobacco-related illnesses if they continue to smoke and chew tobacco. Tobacco use among young people presents a major public health problem that should be addressed not just by those whose work is specific to tobacco control, but by everyone in health service and public health fields.
Cessation for youth should be thought of as more than just treatment; opportunities to impact rates of tobacco use among youth exist at both the individual and population levels: 1. Individual: offering direct cessation services through schools and other youth-based community groups, in the form of behavioral modification (counseling, support, coping skills, etc.) and/or pharmacological treatments. 2. Population: promoting broader interventions that discourage tobacco use, such as raising tobacco taxes, implementing school, community, and workplace smoking bans, enforcing tobacco sales policies, and reducing tobacco advertising and the prevalence of adult role models who use tobacco publicly.
Individuals, community groups, and public health organizations can promote youth cessation in a number of different ways which target the individual tobacco user as well as whole populations. This presentation will discuss ways to support policies, to locate and assess effective cessation programs, and to promote research on treatments, programs, and policies. Messages that discourage tobacco use must be persistent and inescapable to be effective, and they must come from all sides of public health.
Learning Objectives: Following the presentation, participants will be able to: 1. define "cessation interventions" across the spectrum from the individual to population levels 2. recognize specific actions they are uniquely positioned to take that will promote cessation
Keywords: Tobacco Control, Child Health Promotion
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Youth Tobacco Cessation Collaborative: National Blueprint for Action for Youth and Young Adult Tobacco Use Cessation
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.