Promoting tobacco cessation through community outreach partnerships

BACKGROUND: The Outreach Pilot Program (OPP) was designed to engage communities and researchers in activities aimed at increasing the use of the Puerto Rico Quitline (PRQ) among smokers. METHOD: OPP helped to mobilize community organizations and health professionals to engage in promotion of, and referral to, the PRQ, using principles of Community Based Participatory Research. OPP assisted partners in adopting evidence-based tobacco-control approaches. RESULTS: Eighty (80) organizations participated in the OPP. OPP conducted yearly tobacco control trainings and held tobacco-control conferences in which community organizations and health professionals presented their tobacco prevention efforts (posters, group discussions, focus groups, etc.). OPP partners promoted the PRQ via print materials and assisted in the passage of one of the most rigorous smoke-free laws in the U.S. Physicians' referrals to the PRQ increased from 2.6% to 7.2% and brochure referrals from 1.4% to 4.6%. The number of annual smokers receiving cessation services through the PRQ increased from 703 in 2005 to 1,086 in 2008. This pilot program formed the basis for an expanded outreach program that included a continued focus on tobacco and a new focus on breast and cervical cancer control. CONCLUSION: This project demonstrates the feasibility of developing a successful and sustainable community-based outreach model that enlists the participation of academic, community organizations, and health care providers as partners to promote tobacco cessation. It further illustrates the capacity to affect population wide behavior change through collaboration and existing organizational infrastructures to improve population health.