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Project Students Helping Others Understand Tobacco (SHOUT)

An Evidence-Based Practice

This practice has been Archived and is no longer maintained.

Description

The goal of Project Students Helping Others Understand Tobacco (SHOUT) is to prevent tobacco use among adolescents.

Undergraduate students were recruited to deliver the curriculum and received about 15 hours of training from SHOUT staff. During 6 sessions in the fall, seventh grade participants watched a videotape on the health consequences of tobacco use, read celebrity endorsements of nonuse and discussed the social consequences of tobacco use. They also became familiar with tobacco products, rehearsed methods of resisting peer pressure, practiced decision making, and performed a skit for their classmates in which they were offered tobacco and refused it. Within four sessions in the spring, seventh grade participants reviewed refusal methods, discussed addiction to tobacco and tobacco cessation, and were given the opportunity to publicly declare themselves tobacco free.

The eighth grade curriculum took place across eight sessions, during which participants engaged in more demonstration and rehearsal of refusal skills, participated in anti-tobacco community action projects, and learned ways to positively encourage parents and others to quit smoking. In the participants’ ninth grade year, SHOUT staff sent five newsletters to all participants and two newsletters to parents. In addition, trained phone counselors called each SHOUT participant twice per semester.

Goal / Mission

The goal of Project Students Helping Others Understand Tobacco (SHOUT) is to use a school-based curriculum to prevent tobacco use among adolescents.

Results / Accomplishments

Both the control and intervention groups were surveyed four times during a baseline survey at the beginning of seventh grade, and then again at the end of grades seven, eight, and nine. At the final follow-up, 19.8% of control students and only 13.2% of intervention students reported smoking in the past month, a difference significant at p<0.05.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
San Diego State University
Primary Contact
John Elder
Hardy Tower 119
5500 Campanile Dr.
San Diego CA 92182-4162
(619) 594-2997
jelder@mail.sdsu.edu
http://www.urban.org/pdfs/TeenRiskTaking_2.pdf
Topics
Health / Alcohol & Drug Use
Health / Adolescent Health
Organization(s)
San Diego State University
Source
Urban Institute
Date of publication
1993
Date of implementation
1988
Geographic Type
Urban
Location
San Diego County, CA
For more details
Target Audience
Teens