The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #64722

Jason Shrader, BS, Polk County Health Department, Polk County Health Department, 300 Polk County Plaza, Suite 10, Balsam Lake, WI 54810, 715-485-8500, jasons@co.polk.wi.us

According to the Burden of Tobacco Report for Polk County, 33% of high school youth and 9% of middle school youth in Polk County use tobacco.

As a result of the report, in 2001, the Polk County Tobacco-Free Coalition adopted a five-year comprehensive plan to include a focus on youth tobacco prevention.

An informal survey of county school district guidance couselors revealed that school staff were "tired" of low impact tobacco educational programs. This response led the Coalition to develop March Tobacco Madness (MTM) an innovative approach to youth tobacco prevention using a sports related component. MTM was designed by joining knowledge on tobacco prevention and refusal skills with an American favorite past time – the NCAA Basketball Championship or March Madness. Throughout the month of March, 425 5th and 6th graders from 15 classes and 4 schools in Polk County competed against each other in a March Tobacco Madness Tournament challenging youth’s knowledge on tobacco issues, knowledge and refusal skills.

Although MTM was developed by adults, it is facilitated by local high school youth from the Polk County FACT (Fighting Against Corporate Tobacco) movement. FACT Members evaluate the effectiveness of MTM by challenging youth on their gain of knowledge and refusal skills using a progressive set of test questions used throughout the program.

Preliminary results indicated that youth were more responsive to a sports related interactive approach to tobacco prevention therefore increasing tobacco knowledge and refusal skills.

The success of MTM has led to the development of other sports-related youth tobacco prevention programs by local schools and youth.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify effective approaches to modify youth behavior through sports-related tobacco prevention programming.
• List three methods to evaluate and monitor attitudes and behavioral changes regarding tobacco use among youth.
• Acquire strategies to initiate school based youth tobacco prevention programs including lesson plans and educational materials.

Keywords: 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.