North Carolina remains the leading grower and manufacturer of tobacco in the United States. Innovative channel selection and message development are needed for delivering tobacco control interventions.
Beauty salons are located in every community, are frequented by a large percentage of the public, and represent a fairly new public health channel. In North Carolina alone, there are 11,305 licensed beauty salons. On average, individuals frequent a beauty salon every 4 to 8 weeks, so that opportunities for reach and reinforcement of health messages exist. The potential for beauty salons to serve as a new channel for delivery of new messages about the negative effects of smoke on health and beauty remains to be explored.
The North Carolina Beauty Salon Project assessed knowledge, attitudes, and interests of beauty salon industry representatives to deliver tobacco messages to their customers. An Advisory Board was organized and questionnaire surveys were mailed to salon owners, licensed cosmetologists, beauty school administrators, beauty product distributors, state cosmetology board members, and salon customers.
Results of this formative research will be used to: (1) form partnerships which mobilize the North Carolina beauty salon industry in support of tobacco control interventions; (2) explore the use of cosmetologists as lay health advisors for delivering brief, motivational, tobacco messages to their customers; and (3) develop sustainable intervention strategies which can be modified for use with other health messages. A description of the formative research process, conclusions, and the intervention strategies developed based on these results will be provided in this presentation.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to: 1. Describe the attitudes and interests of beauty salon cosmetologists in delivering health messages to their clients. 2. Develop strategies to utilize beauty salons as a new public health channel for delivering brief motivational health interventions
Keywords: Community-Based Health Promotion, Tobacco Control
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
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.