18th Annual Student Research Conference
Human Potential and Performance
Evaluation of an Advocacy-based Tobacco Prevention Program
Sarah Shelton* and Bryan Campbell
Dr. Carol Cox, Faculty Mentor
The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge of smoking/tobacco prevention and the anti-smoking advocacy skills of rural Northeast Missouri middle school students. The ‘SmokeBusters’ tobacco prevention program, focusing on advocacy and media literacy interventions, was implemented to 240 rural Northeast Missouri middle school students. The program teaches teens what they can achieve through the use of local media, government, and school boards in the prevention of tobacco use. This research project determined the success of this program to help the directors understand the strengths and weaknesses of the program to help in future improvements. A pretest-post-test/non-control group research design was employed. A paired-samples t-test was used to analyze the test results. Participants significantly (p< 0.01) increased their knowledge in the areas of: competency in media relations, confidence in speaking to community leaders about substance abuse, and competency in legislative advocacy skills.
Keywords: youth, tobacco prevention, advocacy, program evaluation
Topic(s):Health Science
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 29-42
Location: OP Lobby & Atrium
Time: 1:15