F.A.C.T. Fighting Against Cancer and Tobacco in American Samoa-A mass media campaign led by Samoan Youths to educate local teenagers (12-18) about the effects of tobacco and empower youth to stay tobacco product free

Importance:

Risk Behavior Survey revealed 57% of teenagers in American Samoa (AS) have tried smoking, and 25% have used some form of tobacco product greater than 30 days, creating a higher risk for these students to become addicted to nicotine. Lung cancer is leading cause of death in AS. The media campaign targets ages 12-18 who are considered high risk group in terms of smoking uptake.

Research Question: Can a youth developed media campaign encourage local youths to learn about the effects of tobacco, and empower youths to stay tobacco product free.

Methods: An eight week community project, recruiting teenagers at an Island Wide Youth Wellness Program to engage in an interactive activity to develop public service announcement (PSA) messages. A review panel chose six of those attendees to participate in F.A.C.T. project. Candidates were trained on the production of a public service announcement, and script writing. The training session was constructed through Literature Reviews and local surveys regarding smoking and the effects of smoking. A total of six public service announcements were completed. A survey was developed to review content among youths.

Data:

Youths between ages 12-18 were surveyed after watching PSA's. 68% surveyed learned something from the project, and 48% posted comments with themes that were health issues. 78% surveyed would like to see more PSA's that addressed tobacco issues among their age group. Additional funding received from NCI collaboration with AS Cancer Network to further this study.