"Nyet" to Smoking!: Culturally Competent Approaches to Working with Russian-Speakers

Russian men have a 60% smoking rate, resulting in one of the world's lowest life expectancies. Assimilating to California's culture with an 11.9% smoking prevalence rate and strict restrictions on public smoking, can be a dramatic adjustment compounding immigration stressors. The SUNSET Russian Tobacco Education Project promotes social justice by addressing health disparities disproportionately affecting low income Russian-speakers in the Bay Area. The presenter joined SUNSET as an intern in February of 2011 to fulfill a graduation requirement. Despite little knowledge of the tobacco issue and no experience with the Russian speaking community, SUNSET's community-based approach to organizing a marginalized population proved to be an impactful educational experience. Working with the Program Director, the presenter learned pertinent strategies for working with special populations. The unique socio-political history of this population requires sensitive approaches such as emphasizing voluntary policies vs. imposed policies; creating high literacy materials vs. low literacy materials; addressing fatalism; and reframing the foreign concept of “volunteerism.” The result is a successful project with a core group of community advocates working on smoke-free housing policies. Lessons learned will give participants insight into this unique population and ideas on how to apply these lessons to other marginalized groups.

Attendees of this presentation will be able to: 1) Differentiate this population from others facing disproportionate health disparities 2) Identify 2 important components of culturally competent educational materials that speak to a unique history 3) Describe the impact/importance of developing members of the community to advocate for a shift in cultural norms