The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #44897

Rachel Widome, MHS¹, Maribet C. McCarty, PhD, MPH¹, Jean L. Forster, PhD¹, Vincent Chen, MBA¹, Traci L. Toomey, PhD¹, and Lynn Eberly, PhD². (1) Division of Epidemiology, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second St., Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454-1015, 612-625-3404, widome@epi.umn.edu, (2) Division of Biostatistics, University of Minnesota, 420 Delaware Street, A-460 Mayo, MMC 303, Minneapolis, MN 55455

The purpose of this study is to document the implementation of the comprehensive Minnesota tobacco prevention and control programs at the local level and to estimate the associations of these programs with adolescent tobacco use. The study follows a cohort of 3600 youth, initially ages 12-16, selected at random from 60 defined geo-political units that provide a representative sample of Minnesota communities and youth. The geo-political units (GPUs) are based on population, political boundaries, and potential programmatic boundaries, including counties, school districts and neighborhoods. Youth are surveyed by phone every six months. Programmatic data collection includes a school survey (n=806) measuring school prevention curricula and school smoking policies, a survey of law enforcement officers (n=200) describing community enforcement of youth access laws, and tobacco control ordinance information from over 150 local municipalities. Data describing community advocacy efforts were obtained from granting agencies and grantees and data related to youth cessation and diversion programs has been obtained from program directors. Multi-level statistical models will be used to measure the association of tobacco use and progression of use over 3 data collection periods with program implementation in each of the 60 geopolitical units.

Learning Objectives:

• To describe community and program level predictors of adolescent tobacco use and to describe the variation in program implementation across geo-political units.

Keywords: Adolescents, 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.