2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

329823
Framing tobacco as a youth social justice issue


Tuesday, November 3, 2015 : 1:10 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Carly Caminiti, MS, Training and Capacity Building, Health Resources in Action, Boston, MA
Arielle Levy, MPH, Training and Capacity Building, 95 Berkeley St., Boston, MA
Brittany H. Chen, MPH, Boston University School of Public Health Doctoral Candidate, Health Resources in Action, Boston, MA
Laurie Jo Wallace, MA, Training and Capacity Building, Health Resources in Action, Boston, MA
Tamaki West, MA, Health Communication, Health Resources in Action, Boston, MA
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
The 84, a program of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and managed in partnership with Health Resources in Action, engages youth in educating their peers and decision-makers to advance local tobacco policies through community and school-based “Chapters.”

Issue

By making tobacco products cheap, sweet, and easy to get, the tobacco industry attempts to gain a strong hold on youth, particularly targeting minority populations to become regular smokers. Educating youth about the tobacco industry’s tactics can be used as an effective recruitment tool and help youth feel deeply connected to the issue.

Description

By discussing important social movements that youth historically impacted, like the Civil Rights Movement, youth can envision themselves as potential agents of change. By developing curricula specifically focused on how the tobacco industry targets the LGBTQ community and people of color, The 84 directly connects the population it serves to relevant social justice issues.

Lessons Learned

By positioning tobacco prevention as a social justice issue, we have engaged youth groups focusing on a variety of issues and recruited them to become part of The 84. In addition, we have formed a relationship with groups that address specific populations, like the LGBT community.

Recommendations

Highlighting tobacco control as a social justice issue has proven successful in recruiting youth who continue to be disproportionately targeted by the tobacco industry. By creating trainings that highlight how the tobacco industry targets specific populations and collaborating with new partners such as Gay-Straight Alliances, tobacco prevention programs become much more effective.

Learning Areas:

Advocacy for health and health education
Diversity and culture
Public health or related education
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
List strategies the tobacco industry uses to target youth, particularly the LGBTQ community and people of color Describe tobacco control as a social justice issue Identify the importance of connecting youth to social justice

Keyword(s): Youth, Social Justice

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the project manager of MA's youth tobacco prevention program for the past year and half. I have worked in tobacco control for 15 years, first as a youth advocate in high school working on smoke-free laws and later taking on more of a program manager role. ​
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.

Back to: 4204.0: Moving towards tobacco health equity