CEASE and Resist: Youth perspectives on tobacco environment and community health

Southwest Baltimore has one of the highest densities of tobacco retailers in the city: 45 stores/10,000 people, compared to 24 stores/10,000 people for Baltimore overall. Recent research has shown that up to 50% of residents in Southwest Baltimore communities smoke, compared to 25% of all Baltimore residents. These same Southwest Baltimore communities also have the highest death rates from lung cancer in the city. While literature has demonstrated that youth who have more tobacco stores and advertising in their communities and near their schools are more likely to start smoking, very little is known about youth smoking behaviors and interactions with the tobacco environment in Southwest Baltimore.

CEASE and Resist is a youth Photovoice project developed as part of the CEASE (Communities Engaged and Advocating for a Smoke-free Environment) CBPR collaboration between an urban school of public health and local community organizations. The goal is to gain an understanding of how youth from Southwest Baltimore perceive and interact with their local tobacco environment, as well as train them to become active change agents for community health. Fifteen youth were recruited from three elementary schools and trained in basic camera use and general ethics/guiding principles of photography. Youth met on regular intervals to discuss their photos and narrate them from their own perspectives—telling their own stories—and to help plan/guide the project. This presentation will provide an overview of what their work has achieved and how participatory research, particularly that among youth, can facilitate local policy and community change.