Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #117094

Ann St. Claire, MPH, Minnesota Partnership for Action Against Tobacco, Two Appletree Square, Suite 400, 8011 34th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55425, 952-767-1416, astclaire@mpaat.org and Margaret Celebrezze, MPH, MA, Rainbow Research, Inc., 621 West Lake Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55408.

In 2004 the Minnesota Partnership for Action Against Tobacco (MPAAT) selected five grantee organizations to adapt evidence-based tobacco cessation programs specifically to their communities. Targeted populations for the grant included: Hispanic/Latinos, Native American, African immigrants, African Americans, SE Asians, and GLBT communities. Drawing from a participatory community-based approach, grantees were to (1) tailor their program delivery as well as its content and evaluation to their community and (2) provide cessation services to at least 400 adults over a two-year period. It is anticipated that this innovative approach will increase and promote opportunities for people to quit using tobacco and reduce tobacco use among communities of color and American Indian nations in Minnesota. MPAAT's Community-Tailored Tobacco Cessation Program is grounded in the assumption that tobacco cessation programs need to be sensitive to the diverse cultural norms and beliefs of the people for whom the programs are intended. Currently little has been documented in terms of specific community-based modifications to evidence-based tobacco cessation curricula or around the efficacy of such approaches. Preliminary data assessing the reach and effectiveness of the MPAAT program will be presented followed by a discussion of the project development process and the utility of findings to both the funder and grantees. The session will conclude with lessons learned exploring challenges and successes to the project.

Learning Objectives:

• Program managers and funders will understand the importance of community-tailored cessation programs and methods for evaluating such programs.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.