November 2005 - October 2008
Missouri has one of the highest smoking rates in the nation, so this project aspires to a healthier citizenry by reducing tobacco use. The project’s overall goal is to prevent youth from using tobacco and reduce exposure to smoking in workplaces by having students, teachers, parents and community leaders work together against these problems. Research has consistently determined that the greater the investment in comprehensive programs of evidence-based components, the larger the health benefit.13 Our project is grounded in these lessons of previous public health campaigns. Our systematic plan develops a critical mass of local expertise accentuated by the empowerment of student advocates committed to the prevention and cessation of tobacco use. We will use existing school and university infrastructures to mobilize student leaders who will influence communities’ health agendas to reduce the use of tobacco. By systematically linking energetic student leaders from educational institutions (from middle schools, high schools and universities) with community groups, we will help solve the major societal problems related to tobacco. Although our project is a comprehensive integrated approach, it is most easily discussed in terms of the two MFH goals as two separate initiatives. One initiative provides middle schools and high schools with empowering educational tools and resources for students, teachers, parents and community leaders who will customize school-based curricula and develop tobacco-prevention projects. Another initiative will foster an innovative campus-community alliance to provide leadership training for tobacco control, address workplace smoking bans, and promote smoking cessation in identified priority municipalities. Oversight for this project will come from a multidisciplinary team of professionals from the University of Missouri system (MU). The team has expertise in addictions, health promotion programs, psychology, public health, strategic communications campaigns, and project evaluation. Our project capitalizes on several existing statewide organizational networks that will join with us. Together with them, our project will improve the health of several priority populations, complement existing tobacco control efforts, and build infrastructure that sustains our successful programs.
The Missouri Comprehensive Tobacco Use Prevention Program and Strategic Plan 2003-2009 12 lists as three goals for effective tobacco control: (1) Prevent tobacco use initiation among young people; (2) promote quitting among young people and adults; and (3) eliminate exposure to second hand smoke. These goals highlight the need to reach to young people for effective tobacco control. Our initiatives address this need by producing a cadre of tomorrow’s leaders who will have the skills necessary to resist tobacco use as well as skills to assume responsibility for both personal and community health.