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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Caroline H. Sparks, PhD, Prevention Research Center, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, George Washington University, 2175 K Street, N.W., Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037, (202) 467-2277, ihochs@gwumc.edu, Michele M. Hodak, BS, National Education Association Health Information Network, 1201 16th St. NW, Suite 521, Washington, DC 20036, and Nancy A. Hudson, RN, MS, CHES, Independent Consultant, 2675 Legends Way, Ellicott City, MD 21042.
The NEA Health Information Network and evaluators from the George Washington University will present an innovative middle school youth advocacy program for tobacco control. The program, Kids Act to Control Tobacco (Kids ACT!), educates youth about the public consequences of tobacco use. Kids ACT! empowers students to act as advocates for a tobacco-free society, at home, in school and in their communities. Teachers can use the program to teach middle school students how to speak, write and act persuasively to prevent tobacco use. Three years ago, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded the design and initial field-tests of this innovative middle school curriculum. Based on feedback from teachers and students, the curriculum was redesigned to include a clear, four-step advocacy model that reinforces communication, decision-making, critical thinking, problem-solving and leadership skills. Kids ACT! is matched to national standards in Health, English, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies and Math and is formatted for service learning. In 2001, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded a three-year pilot study and outcome evaluation of the curriculum. The NEA HIN is working with evaluators from the George Washington University School of Public Health on the evaluation, using newly developed instruments, to measure the success of youth advocacy programs. In this session, the presenters will present the four-step advocacy model and the in-class activities that accompany each step. They will also discuss measurement issues and initial evaluation results as well as how school systems may become involved in the outcome evaluation.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to
Keywords: Advocacy, Tobacco Control
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.