Abstract:

The health implications of youth tobacco use are numerous, long-lasting, and troubling. Adolescents and pre-adolescent youth are particularly vulnerable to nicotine addiction, becoming dependent at a lower consumption rate of tobacco in comparison to adults (Colby et al., 2000; Counotte, Smit, Pattij, & Spijker, 2011; Kandel & Chen, 2000). This early nicotine dependence with our youth is an important predictor of them becoming an adult who smokes on a regular basis due to a nicotine addiction (Dierker et al., 2015). Utilizing a model of health-promotion, there is support that schools have a key role to play in promoting healthy development among youth as they are uniquely suited to affect a broad range of developmental outcomes in youth. Within the school health promotion model, harm minimization approaches are gaining ground as zero tolerance efforts in preventing youth substance use, specifically tobacco use are largely ineffective. In essence, harm minimization shifts the focus onto mitigating the harmful consequences of substance use rather than on eliminating use altogether. A harm minimization program, developed uniquely for youth was studied and evaluated over a three year cycle.

The harm minimization program, ACADEMY FOR TOBACCO PREVENTION is a free access, web-based tobacco prevention program targeted at grades 4 – 6 that uses a creative theme to give the resource context. The Academy curriculum consists of five modules per grade that provides students with factual information in a game format; to help students understand the risks seen with tobacco use through interactive question and answers; it demonstrates ways in which students can recognize negative social influences, and; it fosters strategy development in learning how to resist pressure to use tobacco related products. This innovative web-based resource is aligned with Canadian National and Alberta Provincial health goals, as well as through our education curricular mandates.

A team of researchers from the University of Lethbridge completed a 3-year evaluation research on The Academy for Tobacco Prevention program. Outcomes and measurable indicators were identified for the Academy intervention and a pre - post survey and one year follow up survey was developed. Results indicate post intervention changes occurred with some significant results, and similar findings were obtained for the one year follow up. and impact was evident 1 year after the Academy intervention. The most significant finding is the level of distrust students exhibited toward the tobacco industry immediately post Academy intervention which was also significant one year after the intervention.

This study was useful in identifying tobacco prevention program content that contributes to positive outcomes for youth, identifying gaps in protective factors that may increase students’ risk of tobacco uptake, and addresses how student skill attainment can be applied in several different areas where the development of protective factors such as resiliency, informed decision making and confidence through peer refusal strategies.

Learning Objectives for Participants:
- develop awareness of the rationale for tobacco reduction for youth via harm minimization
- develop an understanding on how to build a culture of quality improvement specifically for youth tobacco prevention
- exploration of the online web-based tobacco prevention resources.

Keywords:

Education program, health, tobacco reduction, innovative curriculum.