Designing a tobacco counter-marketing campaign for African American youth.

The objectives of this qualitative study were to: a) identify common marketing themes and tactics used by the tobacco industry to entice African Americans (AA's) and youth to initiate and maintain smoking behavior, especially smoking mentholated brands of cigarettes, and b) determine AA youths' knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and beliefs about smoking and the tobacco industry. Together, these activities could aid in the development of effective tobacco counter-marketing campaigns for AA youth. Using publicly available tobacco industry documents, computerized searches using standardized keywords were run and results were cataloged and analyzed thematically. Subsequently, 5 focus groups were conducted with n = 28 AA middle school-aged youth. Results suggest that the tobacco industry consistently recruited new AA smokers through a variety of means, including social and behavioral marketing studies and targeted media and promotional campaigns in predominantly AA, urban, and low income areas. AA youth interviewed in this study were largely unaware of these tactics, and reacted negatively against the industry upon learning of them. Youth tended to externalize control over tobacco, especially within the AA community. In designing a counter-marketing campaign for this population, partnering knowledge of tobacco industry practices with youth needs and community resources will likely increase their effectiveness.

Feasibility of computerized scheduled gradual reduction for adolescent smoking cessation.

The purpose of this project was to modify a smoking cessation program that uses computerized scheduled gradual reduction for use with adolescent smokers and to test the feasibility of this cessation approach in group support and minimal contact modalities. Utilizing a lesson plan approach with high school marketing students in five high schools and student survey feedback, the LifeSign program was modified to be an acceptable smoking cessation program for adolescent smokers. In the first study, 17 adolescent smokers used the modified program with seven associated weekly group support sessions. At the end of treatment, 29% had quit smoking, and over half of those who continued to smoke reduced their smoking rate by 50%. In the second study, the LifeSign for Teens program was evaluated with 18 adolescent smokers in a minimal contact format. At the end of treatment, 17% had quit smoking, and mean smoking rate reductions of 43% were found among those who continued smoking. At 1-year follow-up, all subjects who had quit at posttreatment reported continuous abstinence. The results of these two small trials suggest that a computerized scheduled gradual reduction approach may be an accepted and potentially efficacious approach for smoking cessation among adolescent smokers.