Community
Key Information
School & Community
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Bismarck Burleigh Public Health was awarded
funding from the Community Health Grant Program. The Community
Health Grant Program was created by the North Dakota Legislature
in 2001 and made possible by the tobacco settlement dollars.
Bismarck Burleigh Public Health along with school and community
members, developed a school and community plan based upon
the Centers for Disease Control's Best Practices for
Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs:
Tobacco Prevention and Control Goals for School and Community
- Prevent the early initiation of tobacco use among young people.
- Promote quitting among young people and adults.
- Eliminate nonsmokers' exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke.
- Identify and eliminate the disparities
related to tobacco use and its effects among populations
most affected by tobacco.
-- School Info --
Two of the funded curricula available for
schools wishing to update their present curriculum are Life
Skills Training by Botvin for middle high students
and Project Towards No Tobacco Use for
upper elementary grades (5th, 6th, and in some schools
7th).
Theory for Life Skills Training
The curriculum is based on a person-environment inter-action model that
assumes there are multiple pathways leading to tobacco, alcohol, and drug use.
Social influences to smoke, drink, or use drugs interact with individual vulnerability.
Therefore, the curriculum impacts on social risk factors including media influence
and peer pressure, as well as personal risk factors such as anxiety and low
self-esteem.
Theory for Project Towards No Tobacco
Use
The theory underlying Project TNT is that youth will be best able to resist
using tobacco products who
- are aware of misleading social information that facilitates tobacco use (e.g. advertising, inflating prevalence estimates)
- have skills that counteract the social pressures to achieve approval by using tobacco; and
- appreciate the physical consequences that tobacco use may have on their own lives (e.g. the beginnings of addiction).
(Sussman, Dent, Burton, Stacy, & Flay, 1995, Developing School-Based Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Programs. Thousand Oaks:Sage).
High schools get assistance with quitting tobacco use services from the Community Health Grant Program. The Tobacco Awareness and Tobacco Education Group (TAP and TEG) tobacco cessation classes are held at South Central High School. South Central High School also addresses tobacco cessation at the Drug Free Outdoor Experience which takes place in July. Century High School uses the American Lung Association’s Freedom From Smoking® program.
See QUITTING TOBACCO for updates.
Other programs:
Professional training continues to be offered for school faculty members and includes facilitation for Life Skills Training, Project Toward No Tobacco Use, Tobacco Awareness Program (TAP) and Tobacco Education Group, (TEG).
| A Dozen Good Reasons For Tobacco-Free Schools | |
| 1. | Tobacco kills and disables. |
| 2. | Tobacco is a drug. |
| 3. | Tobacco is addictive. |
| 4. | Smoking materials and secondhand smoke are dangerous. |
| 5. | Middle and high school years are critical
in determining whether or not an individual becomes a smoker for life. |
| 6. | Tobacco is a gateway drug. |
| 7. | Allowing tobacco use at school is
in conflict with prevention messages delivered in the classrooms. |
| 8. | Perceived social acceptance of tobacco
use, accurate or otherwise, influences adolescent tobacco use behavior. |
| 9. | Workplaces are becoming increasingly smoke-free. |
| 10. | Laws intentionally limit access and possession of tobacco by children. |
| 11. | Schools may face liability issues by allowing smoking on their premises. |
| 12. | It's the right thing to do. |
| Copied with permission from "Creating
and Maintaining a Tobacco-Free School Policy" Partnership For A Tobacco-Free Maine. |
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| › BTFC Executive Board | |
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Public Education
Bismarck Burleigh Public Health continues to pool resources with 28 public health units for a more effective and broader reaching educational campaign through radio, TV, and print. The community health grant funds support this campaign called PETT, Public Education Task force on Tobacco. Goals have been to educate the public about the hazards of secondhand tobacco smoke and to empower the public to take action against exposure from secondhand tobacco smoke. An evaluation component is completed by Winkelman Consulting.
Quitting Tobacco Programs
Helping people quit using tobacco is a major emphasis of the Community Health Grant Program. Quitting is not easy, but studies show that tobacco users are 2 to 3 times more likely to be successful at quitting if they receive help, such as skills training, counseling, and medication. These involve a variety of options such as the quit line, individual counseling, and group classes.
Quit smoking programs funded by the Community Health Grant enroll over 200 people each year in the American Lung Association’s Freedom From Smoking® Program which address both spit tobacco use and smoking. The programs are conducted at Bismarck Burleigh Public Health and St. Alexius Medical Center. The Statewide Tobacco Quitline (1-866-388-7848) is free to North Dakota residents.
See QUITTING TOBACCO for the latest information.
Control of tobacco sales to minors
The Community Health Grant Program addresses the easy access to tobacco by youth. Materials are provided for tobacco retailers for educating store personal to “check ID’s” before selling tobacco to minors. Tobacco compliance checks are done by the Bismarck Police Youth Bureau to enforce the city ordinance which prohibits retailers from selling tobacco to minors.
Community Coalition of Citizens
The Community Health Grant Program funds the local coalition of citizens interested in tobacco prevention and control in the community. In 2005/06 coalition work will extend to local colleges for addressing the increased rate of tobacco use among college aged individuals.
See ABOUT US
| › Freedom from Smoking Group Classes ® | |
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