The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #44917

M. Lyndon Haviland, DrPH, American Legacy Foundation, 1001 G Street, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20001, 202-454-5555, lhaviland@americanlegacy.org

The American Legacy Foundation (Legacy) launched the truth campaign in February 2000. Since that time, Legacy has sponsored a series of media tracking surveys (LMTS) to monitor awareness of and reactions to the truth campaign. At the end of the first year of the campaign, media tracking surveys showed changes in certain youth attitudes that were specifically addressed by the campaign. These attitudes shifts were statistically significant, and consistent with more negative youth attitudes toward the tobacco industry and tobacco use.

By autumn of 2002 Legacy will have an additional data source for measuring the effectiveness of the truthsm campaign: the 2002 National Youth Tobacco Survey. While the LMTS is useful for measuring youth assessments of the campaign, the NYTS is the best measure of potential behavior change. The purpose of this talk is to present these most recent findings about the ability of the truthsm campaign to change youth tobacco use behavior.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the impact of the truth campaign and how that impact was measured through two national surveys.

Keywords: Tobacco, Media Literacy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: American Legacy Foundation
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.