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

Abstract #118157

Laura Immekus, BA¹, Ruth L. Eudy, MSW, PhD¹, and Bobbi Pitts, APN². (1) Graduate Program in Health Services Administration, UAMS College of Public Health, 4301 W. Markham st., #820, Little Rock, AR 72205, 501-526-6656, eudyruth@uams.edu, (2) Health Services, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, DSC 101, 2801, 2801 S. University Avenue, Little Rock, AR 7204

“You Know You Want To…” is an evidence-based campus-wide tobacco cessation program funded by the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Commission for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR). The program was developed to be implemented in stages based on the Transtheoretical Model of Change. Components include a campus-wide media campaign, inclusion of tobacco use assessment and appropriate referral in all routine medical visits, an informational webpage with scheduled events and links to resources and individual or group tobacco cessation programs with or without pharmaceutical aids. Media messages, tobacco cessation groups and other components are targeted to include not only students, but faculty and staff, who differ significantly from students demographically and in duration of tobacco habit.

The study reported here presents findings from the initial survey of faculty and staff, the response to our initial tobacco cessation groups with staff members, and data on eight month quit rates, which will be available in the summer of 2005.

Completed surveys were returned by 42% of employees, with no significant difference in return rate from faculty or staff. Compared with 4.5% of faculty, 15% of staff are current smokers. All faculty smokers were in the contemplative stage of cessation, while 2% of staff respondents remained in the pre-contemplative stage. Staff members were more likely to choose support groups, some in combination with individual counseling and pharmaceutical aids, than were either students or faculty. Results from the first round of support groups indicate a three month quit rate of 90% for participants.

Learning Objectives: Upon completion of this presentation, participants will be able to

• Describe the Transtheoretical Model of Change and its practical application in a diverse campus community
• List the major findings in the scientific literature on design of evidence-based tobacco cessation programs
• Discuss the findings for staff members participating in a multi-method tobacco cessation program in an urban metropolitan university setting

Keywords: Tobacco, Community Health Programs

Related Web page: www.ualr.edu/quitnow

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.