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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Megan E. Brown, MPH, School of Public Health, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, PO Box 2688, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-2688, (732)235-9732, brownme@umdnj.edu, Cristine Delnevo, PhD, MPH, School of Public Health, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey, PO Box 2688, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-2688, Shyamala Muthurajah, MPH, MBBS, UMDNJ-School of Public Health, 335 George Street, Liberty Plaza Suite 2200, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-2688, and M Jane Lewis, DrPH, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey -School of Public Health, PO Box 2688 Liberty Plaza Suite 2200, 335 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08903.
The purpose of this study was to assess a battery of new questions for the New Jersey Youth Tobacco Survey that were designed to evaluate the State's anti-tobacco activities targeted at adolescents. Formative research, a tool used to improve and refine study outcomes, is especially effective when the research targets adolescents. New survey questions were pre-tested among adolescents between the ages of 12-18 in order to assess their comprehension of the questions and identify potential problems related to implementation. A total of 27 subjects participated in six independent focus groups. Participants completed a paper-and-pencil questionnaire containing sixteen new questions and then took part in a 35-40 minute focus group Results from pre-testing indicated subjects had a satisfactory comprehension of the survey questions. However, findings from the focus groups prompted us to modify the response categories to one question related to behavior change. The study also revealed that over 50% of the subjects reported hearing about New Jersey's anti-tobacco youth campaign but when probed, none were able to correctly report the campaigns intended message "Not for Sale." Additionally, subjects were not aware of New Jersey's Quitnet or Quitline. This formative research aided in averting potential problems, helped redesign an efficient survey and proved that pre-testing with the intended audience is critical to all studies.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Adolescent Health, Tobacco
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.