Advocacy for health policies and programs can impact large segments of the population with the goal of promoting and protecting the nation's health. Historically, advocacy has not been viewed as seriously as other components of health education, and involvement in public policy work has been moderate by health education practitioners and health…

The aim was to compare the effectiveness of untailored text messages for smoking cessation to tailored text messages delivered at a higher frequency. From February 2007 to August 2009, 2030 users of an internet-based smoking cessation program with optional text message support aged 15-25 years were consecutively randomized to versions of the…

Background: The host of costly individual and societal consequences of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD) use underscores the importance of ATOD prevention education. "It's Up 2U" is an evidence-informed, game-based, e-learning ATOD prevention program developed by Children's Health Education Center (CHEC) targeting middle school…

Television advertisements, packaging regulations and health warning labels (HWLs) are designed to communicate anti-smoking messages to large number of smokers. However, only a few studies have examined how high smoking prevalence groups respond to these warnings. This study explored how socioeconomically disadvantaged smokers engage with health…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of the Dutch "Skills for Life" programme on students' health behaviours, bullying behaviour and suicidal ideation. Design/methodology/approach: The effectiveness of the "Skills for Life" programme on health behaviour outcomes was evaluated at three points in time in…

Background: Relative to youth in regular high schools, alternative high school (AHS) youth are at high risk for alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) misuse. Prevention and cessation efforts are needed for this population. Methods: A systematic, exhaustive literature search was completed to identify ATOD misuse prevention and cessation research…

Background: In efforts to curb and prevent youth smoking, school tobacco policies have become an important and effective strategy. This study explores the degrees and types of tobacco-free school policy (TFSP) enforcement that are associated with adolescent smoking. Methods: A multilevel analysis was performed using 983 students who are nested in…

Currently, heart disease and diabetes dominate society as the leading cause of death for Americans. In this study, we examined the effectiveness of a lifestyle enhancement program on factors related to the development of heart disease. The Wabash Valley Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP) is a community-based lifestyle change program with…

This article discusses a qualitative evaluation of the Florida 4-H Health Rocks! program aimed at youth alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use prevention. A questionnaire was distributed to Extension professionals across Florida to gain insight into the strengths and barriers they faced with programming. Programmatic strengths included targeting a…

Smoking and sexual risk behaviors in urban adolescent females are prevalent and problematic. Family planning clinics reach those who are at most risk. This randomized effectiveness trial evaluated a transtheoretical model (TTM)-tailored intervention to increase condom use and decrease smoking. At baseline, a total of 828 14- to 17-year-old females…

Tobacco use is the most preventable cause of chronic diseases and cancers worldwide. In south-western Taiwan, tobacco use has become one of the top risk behaviors. Smoking in young people has been associated with alcohol addiction and drug abuse in later life; and most smokers start young. Initiation of cigarette smoking at an early age leads to…

This review provides a qualitative overview of school-based smoking cessation programs for adolescents, with a focus on motivationally based programs. Project-Ex and Not-On-Tobacco are two heavily studied interventions with substantial empirical support. Other programs such as use of Motivational Interviewing with the stage of change model have…

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions using situational crime prevention approaches to reduce the smoking rate in outdoor areas of a university campus. Design/methodology/approach: A prospective intervention design was designed for the study. Surveys and observations were used to measure the impacts…

The aim of this randomized-controlled trial was to evaluate the effectiveness of an intensive intervention to reduce children's environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure at their home compared with a minimal intervention. The target population of the study was the mothers of children aged 1-5 who lived in the Cengizhan district of Izmir in…

The EU-Dap study aimed to develop and evaluate a school-based curriculum for the prevention of substance use among young people. The school curriculum, "Unplugged," is based on social influence approach and addresses social and personal skills, knowledge, and normative beliefs. It consists of 12 one-hour interactive sessions delivered by…