Direct Outreach in Bars and Clubs to Enroll Cigarette Smokers in Mobile Cessation Services: Exploratory Study.

Background: Cigarette smoking and alcohol use are well known to be concomitant behaviors, but there is a lack of studies related to recruitment of smokers for mobile cessation services at places where alcohol is consumed, such as bars and clubs. Adapting recruitment strategies to expand the reach of cessation programs to where tobacco users are located may help decrease the health-equity gap in tobacco control by improving reach and enrollment of underserved smokers residing in low-income and rural areas who are not reached by traditional cessation services.

Objective: The purpose of this exploratory study was to assess the feasibility of direct outreach in bars, clubs, and restaurants to recruit smokers to Quitxt, our mobile smoking cessation service.

Facebook Chat Application to Prompt and Assist Smoking Cessation Among Spanish-Speaking Young Adults in South Texas.

Given how smart phones, internet services, and social media have shown great potential for assisting smoking cessation, we constructed a Facebook chat application based on our previous work with SMS texting services. This report summarizes findings from 2,364 Spanish-speaking young adults recruited through Facebook advertising in South Texas during the 2020 New Year holiday season. Among these service users, 926 (39%) were ready to make a quit attempt, and 26 (3.

Text and Mobile Media Smoking Cessation Service for Young Adults in South Texas: Operation and Cost-Effectiveness Estimation.

To realize the promising potential of services delivered via smart phones to help young adults quit smoking at a high level of cost-efficiency, we constructed a texting and mobile media system that was promoted in South Texas via social media advertising and other recruitment channels. During the 6-month service period described here, enrollments were achieved for 798 participants with a mean age of 29.3 years.

Advocacy, Efficacy, and Engagement in an Online Network for Latino Childhood Obesity Prevention.

Salud America! is a national network created to engage Latino researchers, health professionals and community leaders in actions to reduce Latino childhood obesity. An online survey of 148 Salud America! network members investigated relationships between (1) their levels of engagement with the network, (2) self- and collective-efficacy, and (3) behavioral intentions to engage in advocacy for policies that can help reduce Latino childhood obesity. Analyses of these data found that higher levels of Salud America! engagement was associated with collective-advocacy efficacy-greater confidence in organized group advocacy as a way of advancing policies to reduce Latino childhood obesity.

Scales of smoking-related self-efficacy, beliefs, and intention: assessing measurement invariance among intermittent and daily high school smokers.

Purpose: To examine the factorial validity and measurement invariance of scales that measure smoking-related self-efficacy, beliefs, and intention between daily and intermittent adolescent smokers.

Design: Cross-sectional survey design.

Setting: Selected high schools in eastern Texas.

Using social media to communicate child health information to low-income parents.

The objective of this study was to determine the value of using social media to communicate child health information to low-income parents. We evaluated qualitative data obtained through focus groups with low-income, predominantly Hispanic parents. Results were mixed; lack of time and credibility were the primary objections parents cited in using social media to obtain information about their children's health.

African American participation and success in telephone counseling for smoking cessation.

Introduction: Quitlines that provide telephone counseling for smoking cessation have been proved to be effective. All 50 states currently provide free quitline access to their residents; however, little research has been published on African American utilization of quitlines or their success rates.

Methods: This study evaluated how effectively African Americans are served by telephone counseling (quitline) for smoking cessation based on empirical data from 45,510 callers from Texas, Louisiana, Washington, and District of Columbia and randomized clinical trial data from 3,522 participants.

Reductions in cigarette smoking and acute myocardial infarction mortality in Jefferson County, Texas.

After litigation against the tobacco industry ended in a settlement, the Texas legislature funded pilot projects to reduce tobacco use in selected areas of the state. Subsequent telephone surveys showed that well-funded activities were successful in reducing population rates of self-reported cigarette smoking. We present evidence that the reduction in smoking promptly led to lower rates of death from acute myocardial infarctions.

Validation of scales measuring attitudes, self-efficacy, and intention related to smoking among middle school students.

Attitudes toward smoking, self-efficacy to avoid smoking, and smoking intention, widely cited correlates of youth smoking prevention, are often measured in large-scale youth tobacco surveys. The psychometric properties of these scales have not been well studied among middle school youth. We examined the factorial, discriminate, and convergent validity of these scales among sixth to eighth graders from a convenience sample of 22 Texas middle schools (51.

Smoking cessation counseling practices of Texas pharmacists.

A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine pharmacists' awareness and education about smoking cessation and their communication with patients about smoking cessation. A survey was mailed to East Texas pharmacists practicing in the areas of hospital or clinical, retail or community, managed care, consultant, or academic pharmacy. Outcome measurements included: measures of the awareness of the 5 A's and 5 R's of smoking cessation, training received in smoking cessation, and communication practices regarding smoking cessation.

Comparing internet assistance for smoking cessation: 13-month follow-up of a six-arm randomized controlled trial.

Background: Although many smokers seek Internet-based cessation assistance, few studies have experimentally evaluated long-term cessation rates among cigarette smokers who receive Internet assistance in quitting.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to describe long-term smoking cessation rates associated with 6 different Internet-based cessation services and the variation among them, to test the hypothesis that interactive and tailored Internet services yield higher long-term quit rates than more static Web-posted assistance, and to explore the possible effects of level of site utilization and a self-reported indicator of depression on long-term cessation rates.

Method: In 2004-05, a link was placed on the American Cancer Society (ACS) website for smokers who wanted help in quitting via the Internet.

Smoking-related self-efficacy, beliefs, and intention: assessing factorial validity and structural relationships in 9th-12th grade current smokers.

Smoking-related self-efficacy and beliefs about the benefits of smoking are consistently related to intention to continue smoking, a common proximal outcome in youth smoking cessation studies. Some measures of these constructs are used frequently in national and state youth tobacco surveys, despite little evidence of validity for high school smokers. Further, the association of the constructs with intention has not been demonstrated in this group.

Tobacco control policy advocacy attitudes and self-efficacy among ethnically diverse high school students.

This study applied self-efficacy theory to assess empowerment to advocate on behalf of tobacco control policies. The Youth Tobacco Survey with added policy advocacy self-efficacy, attitudes, and outcome expectations scales was given to 9,177 high school students in Texas. Asians showed the lowest prevalence of experimentation and current smoking, followed by African Americans.

Settlement-funded tobacco control in Texas: 2000-2004 pilot project effects on cigarette smoking.

Because settlement proceeds allocated for tobacco control in Texas are insufficient for statewide activity at federally recommended funding levels, the Texas Department of State Health Services has used the available funds in quasi-experimental pilot studies in which varying amounts of support are provided for selected parts of the state. Trends in tobacco use were measured in telephone surveys of 7,998 (2000), 5,150 (2002), and 5,721 (2004) adults. Prevalence of cigarette smoking declined by almost one-third in the pilot area where comprehensive and sustained pilot activities to reduce tobacco use were organized at close to the federally recommended funding level.

Knowing how to help tobacco users. Dentists' familiarity and compliance with the clinical practice guideline.

Background: A U.S. Public Health Service-sponsored clinical practice guideline urges all health care providers to make tobacco-use cessation counseling a routine part of clinical practice.

Acceptance of killing and homicide rates in nineteen nations.

Background: International variation in homicide rates may be attributable to cultural differences in acceptance of moral justifications for killing. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between measures of attitudes towards the justification of killing and homicide rates in diverse international populations.

Methods: Four studies assessed variations in acceptance of killing among adults and young people in nineteen nations and four areas in the USA.

Use of interactive health communication to affect smoking intentions in middle school students: a pilot test of the "Headbutt" risk assessment program.

Purpose: Developing and disseminating innovative and effective approaches for smoking prevention among middle school children remains a public health priority. This pilot study evaluates the use of a Web-based tobacco prevention program, Headbutt, to change intentions of middle school children to smoke tobacco.

Methods: Headbutt was implemented with the use of a single-group pretest-posttest study design in sixth grade classes of nine middle schools in Texas (student n = 2227).

Telephone counseling increases cessation rates among young adult smokers.

During June 2000-May 2001, the American Cancer Society conducted a randomized trial of telephone counseling among more than 3,500 current smokers who called to seek assistance in quitting. All eligible callers were randomized to receive either self-help booklets through the mail or booklets and up to 5 sessions of telephone counseling. Approximately 12% (420/3,522) of study participants were 18-25 years of age.

Physicians' views and practice of smoking cessation.

To assess recent smoking cessation practices of physicians in East Texas and to determine whether physicians' practices meet current standards, a 43-item questionnaire was mailed in May 2000 to 1955 physicians in East Texas. The 406 physicians who finished and returned the survey were included in this study. The questionnaire covered a wide range of sociodemographic variables, and physicians' attitudes and activities related to patients' smoking cessation.

Continuing medical education: what delivery format do physicians prefer?

Background: Although physicians are in a unique position to prevent life-threatening outcomes by counseling patients to stop smoking, many of them miss the opportunity to intervene in their patients' use of tobacco. Nicotine Dependence Across the Lifespan was developed as a continuing medical education (CME) program to teach and encourage physicians to deliver effective tobacco prevention and tobacco cessation counseling.

Methods: This CME program was offered to Texas physicians, free of charge, in three formats: live lectures, videotapes, and World Wide Web-based training.

A su salud: a quasi-experimental study among Mexican American women.

Objectives: To test the effectiveness of a community intervention program to promote breast and cervical cancer screening.

Method: Low-income Mexican American neighborhoods located in 2 Texas cities were assigned to intervention or comparison conditions. A 2-year community intervention was delivered via local mass media and reinforced by indigenous volunteers.

Behavioral change for blood pressure control among urban and rural adults in Taiwan.

In exploring the mechanisms of behavioral change for hypertension control, a study based on the transtheoretical model was carried out in Taiwan in 2000, with a sample of 350 hypertensive adults living in Taipei urban and rural areas. The relationships among stages of change, processes of change, and demographic factors were analyzed for six health behaviors: low-fat food consumption, alcohol use, smoking, physical activity, weight control and routine blood pressure check-ups. The results showed that rural populations had greater difficulty than urban populations in avoiding smoking and engaging in physical activity, and the processes of change being used by urban populations were significantly greater than rural populations for diet, physical activity and routine blood pressure check-up.