217794 Changes in local short-term outcomes of policy, school, and community activities before and after the shutdown of the Minnesota Youth Tobacco Prevention Initiative

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Nina Alesci, MPH , Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Jean Forster, PhD, MPH , Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Darin J. Erickson, PhD , Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Introduction: Ideally, the comprehensive tobacco control (CTC) activities of policy action, school-based prevention, and community mobilization lead to short-term outcomes that ultimately prevent youth smoking. Very few CTC evaluations monitor success achieving local short-term outcomes; no studies test their sustainability. This study tracks implementation of short-term outcomes during the 2000 to 2003 Minnesota Youth Tobacco Prevention Initiative (MYTPI) and tests their sustainability after its shutdown. Methods: The Minnesota Adolescent Community Cohort is a population-based, observational study designed to evaluate the MYTPI. The study sampled 60 of 129 Minnesota geo-political units signifying local communities, and 3,636 Minnesota youth nested in them. From 2000 to 2005, cohort data were collected from youth access and smoking ban policy reviews, a youth access enforcement survey, a school administrator survey, and a youth survey. Piecewise and other growth curve models tested eight local short-term outcomes for increases in these various measures during the program and for lack of change after the shutdown. Results: During the MYTPI, five local short-term outcomes indicated increases in implementation: school-based prevention (proven curricula, student groups), community-mobilization (home smoking bans, advocacy participation), and only one policy initiative (recreational/outdoor smoking bans). However, this growth stopped or slowed after the shutdown. The remaining three outcomes of policy initiatives either remained flat (indoor smoking bans, youth access ordinances) or declined (youth access enforcement) during MTYPI and after its shutdown. Discussion: MYTPI successfully implemented potentially less controversial educational and community-mobilization strategies, but was less successful in implementing social environmental policy change.

Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Identify the short-term outcomes of policy action, school-based prevention, and community mobilization that did or did not change during Minnesota’s 2000-2003 comprehensive tobacco control (CTC) program. Discuss which local short-term outcomes, if any, were sustained after the shutdown in light of the Minnesota environment and social ecological theory. Describe the value of longitudinal growth curve analysis in evaluating changes in and the sustainability of the short-term outcomes CTC. Apply the findings to local and statewide tobacco control program planning and policy advocacy.

Keywords: Tobacco, Funding

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been working on research related to Minnesota tobacco control for the past 12 years through my masters, current doctoral program, and current work at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota's Center for Prevention. I have thoroughly researched this topic for my doctoral dissertation from which I have already published a paper. I am a first author of three peer-reviewed papers and a co-author of several other papers on youth tobacco control and tobacco policy initiatives.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.