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Abstract
A Smoking Prevention Interactive Experience (ASPIRE) is an innovative, computer-based smoking prevention and cessation intervention delivered to a culturally diverse population of high school students. Founded in the Transtheoretical Model of Change, five main and two “booster” sessions comprise the interactive intervention. Here we describe the intervention and the baseline characteristics from our study sample of 1,574 10th graders from 16 high schools in Houston, Texas. Environmental and behavioral smoking risk factors were assessed, and the two intervention groups were comparable with respect to most measured variables. The intervention program holds considerable promise in its ability to reduce smoking among teens.
RÉSUMÉ
ASPIRE (A Smoking Prevention Interactive Experience – une expérience interactive de prévention de l’usage du tabac) est un programme novateur informatisé d’intervention pour la prévention et cessation d’usage du tabac ciblant une population culturellement diversifiée d’étudiants d’école secondaire. Fondé sur le modèle transthéorique de changement de comportement, l’intervention interactive se compose de cinq séances principales et de deux séances de rappel. Nous décrivons ici l’intervention et les caractéristiques fondamentales de notre échantillonnage de 1574 étudiants de seconde année dans 16 écoles secondaires de Houston, dans l’État du Texas. Les facteurs de risque environnemental et comportemental liés à l’usage du tabac ont été évalués et les deux groupes d’intervention ont été comparables en ce qui concerne la plupart des variables mesurées. Le programme d’intervention est extrêmement prometteur par sa capacité de réduire l’usage du tabac chez les adolescents.
RESUMEN
El programa ASPIRE es una experiencia interactiva para la prevención del fumar (A Smoking Prevention Interactive Experience, ASPIRE por sus siglas en inglés). Es una intervención innovadora, que usa como base un programa de computadora para la prevención y cese del fumar, enfocada a una población culturalmente diversa de estudiantes de escuela secundaria. Esta intervención interactiva basada en el Modelo Transteórico del Cambio (Transtheoretical Model of Change), incluye cinco sesiones principales y dos “de refuerzo”. Aquí describimos las características de la intervención y línea basal de nuestra muestra de estudio de 1.574 estudiantes de décimo curso de 16 escuelas secundarias en Houston, Texas. Se determinaron los factores de riesgo de tabaquismo, ambientales y de comportamiento. Los dos grupos de intervención fueron equiparables con respecto a la mayoría de las variables medidas. El programa de intervención representa una promesa considerable en su habilidad para reducir el tabaquismo entre adolescentes.
THE AUTHORS
Dr. Alexander V. Prokhorov is a Professor of Behavioral Science at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA. Dr. Prokhorov is a physician trained in behavioral science and in the epidemiology of cardiovascular and pulmonary disease risk factors. He has almost three decades of experience with tobacco prevention and cessation programs tailored to the age, gender and racial/ethnic background of individual users. He has developed innovative multimedia tobacco prevention and cessation interventions for adolescents and college students, including an interactive arcade-style video game to educate youth on the dangers of tobacco, funded by the Department of Defense. He has served as an expert advisor on youth and tobacco for numerous organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO), American Academy of Pediatrics and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dr. Steven H. Kelder is a Professor of Epidemiology at The University of Texas School of Public Health, Michael & Susan Dell Center for Advancement of Healthy Living, Austin, TX, USA. His research interests include the epidemiology of child and adolescent health and the design and evaluation of school health promotion programs, with a particular emphasis on obesity, diet, physical activity and substance use. He has also been an investigator on studies of minority adolescents belief's about tobacco use.
Dr. Ross Shegog is an Assistant Professor of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at The University of Texas School of Public Health, Center for Health Promotion & Prevention Research, Houston, TX, USA. His areas of research include the application of instructional and/or decision-support technology in health promotion and disease prevention, prevention and cessation of adolescent and young adult tobacco use and prevention of HIV, STD and pregnancy in middle school children.
Dr. Jennifer L. Conroy is a Community and Public Health Strategist for the Austin/Travis County Health Department, Austin, TX, USA. Dr. Conroy has worked in behavior change research at The University of Texas Health Science Center, in cancer prevention at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and for the last several years in the non-profit and government sectors in the prevention and management of diabetes, asthma, smoking, nutrition, physical activity and sexual health. She has an independent consulting agency and works as a Community Health Strategy Consultant with several local and national contracts.
Dr. Nancy Murray is an Assistant Professor of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at The University of Texas School of Public Health, Michael & Susan Dell Center for Advancement of Healthy Living, Houston, TX, USA. Her research interests include youth interventions through parent education and/or school-based interventions, nutrition and exercise promotion, tobacco and substance use prevention, injury and violence prevention and development and diffusion of school health/science programs.
Dr. Ronald Peters, Jr. is an Associate Professor of Behavioral Sciences at The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX, USA. Dr. Peters has published 42 peer reviewed papers in the professional literature in last five years and has ten years of experience in intervention design and evaluation of health promotion research among incarcerated and adolescent populations. His research has been featured in the Washington Post, USA Today, ABC News, NBC News, CBS News and other national and international media publications. He has also been the lead investigator on studies of minority adolescents belief's about tobacco use.
Dr. Paul M. Cinciripini is a Professor of Behavioral Science at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA. His primary research interests are developing and testing smoking cessation treatments and understanding the role of depression and genetics in vulnerability to nicotine addiction. His recent studies have examined the efficacy of combining either brief counseling or “scheduled-reduced smoking” and the nicotine patch for smoking cessation. He has also been involved in basic laboratory studies evaluating psycho physiologic aspects of nicotine dependence.
Dr. Carl de Moor is Senior Director of Health Outcomes with PPD, Inc., a contract research organization based in Wilmington, NC, USA. Prior to joining PPD, Dr. de Moor was Vice President of Health Outcomes and Pharmacoeconomics at Supportive Oncology Services, Inc. Dr. de Moor has held senior faculty positions at several major academic institutions including The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, The University of Texas School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. He has served as biostatistician and co-investigator on over 45 funded National Institutes of Health, Center for Disease Control and Prevention and foundation grants and has over 95 published research papers. His areas of interest include longitudinal analysis, adaptive assignment and correlated data.
Dr. Karen Suchanek Hudmon is an Associate Professor of in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at Purdue University School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, West Lafayette, IN, USA. She is a licensed pharmacist and behavioral epidemiologist. Her tobacco-related work involves the study of predictors of smoking among adolescents and young adults, treatment of tobacco use and dependence through expansion of the clinician's role in cessation and understanding the role of genetics in the development and maintenance of tobacco use and dependence. She has co-coordinated an effort to develop, evaluate and disseminate a comprehensive tobacco cessation training program, Rx for Change: Clinician-Assisted Tobacco Cessation, for students in the health professions and licensed clinicians.
Dr. Kentya H. Ford is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX, USA. Dr. Ford's primary research interests are smoking cessation and prevention, adolescent health and intervention development.