FaithWorks: Implementation of a faith-based community tobacco dependence treatment referral initiative

Participation in tobacco cessation programs can help reduce the prevalence of tobacco use. Treatment for tobacco dependence is available to all Arkansans free of charge. Referral to treatment can be made through a highly utilized fax-back referral program. Although Arkansas treatment and referral programs have experienced tremendous growth, participation is not evenly distributed across counties. Despite the best efforts of general and targeted media campaigns, significantly fewer residents (relative to the populations) in the Mississippi River Delta counties have participated in the telephone-based treatment or the fax-back referral programs. For example, the relative proportion of telephone-counseling treatment participants per adult smoker is at least one standard deviation below the mean of all Arkansas counties in Cross (z-score = -1.60) and Crittenden (z-score = -1.35) counties. Because faith-based communities are prominent socio-cultural institutions in this region, faith-based communities may play a prominent role in encouraging residents to inquire about and enroll in treatment. This presentation will describe the development, dissemination, and evaluation of a faith-based community toolkit, FaithWorks, designed to assist community leaders link community members to treatment services. The toolkit will be disseminated to all identified faith-communities in Cross county. Number of faxed referrals and number of treatment participants from Cross county will be assessed and compared to Crittenden county and the other counties in the Arkansas Mississippi Delta region. The relative proportion of referrals and enrollments in Cross county is expected to increase to within 1 standard deviation of the mean for all Arkansas counties three months post-dissemination.