* Prevention Homepage
Preventing youth initation| Novedades |
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In youth programs, emphasis needs to be placed on the psychological and social factors that lead to initiation of tobacco use. Therefore, your program should focus on exposing the lies and manipulation that the tobacco companies use in order tochange knowledge and attitudes about tobacco use.
Actively promoting and directly involving young people in the program in setting short-term goals increases a chance of the program’s success. If youth know what they are working towards right from the outset, and they have helped decide what the outset will be, there is a better chance they will comply; young people need more guidance and direction than adults, and they need things spelled out in a more direct way. Basically, you must ensure that the children in the program understand what the program is trying to do. As mentioned previously, you also must know why a child would begin to smoke. Right from the outset, certain age and socio-economic groups are more prone to smoking. Those living with others who smoke are more likely to smoke. In addition, there are a surplus of internal, personal factors that promote smoking, such as the idea that it is a glamorous occupation. Survey your population to find out reasons for picking up a first cigarette, where they could obtain cigarettes, what media influencesthey experience, and what they think the smoking behavior norms are. Knowing these aspects behind initiation enables you to effectively design a counter plan to help the youth avoid starting the habit. You should design a program that is engaging and active in order to maintain interest and participation. Incorporate peer programming and peer counseling into your intervention. Try to avoid dominating the program with adult leadership; success increases as participants become more involved with the program implementation.
Skill Areas:
A Ability to involve youth in setting short-term objectives for program success
B Ability to target the sources of youth initiation
C Ability to continually recruit and maintain young people through training andrecognition
D Ability to provide technical assistance to youth without dominating program leadership or decision-making
E Ability to conduct surveys on such issues as ease of youth purchase, youth norms related to smoking, youth smoking habits, aswell as advertising and media influences
F Ability to promote peer-to-peer outreach and peer education
