Topics include motivation, stress management, the effects of smoking, preparing to quit, relapse prevention, dealing with peer pressure, media awareness, support networks, and healthy lifestyles. Four optional booster sessions are offered after the program's conclusion" (NOT, 2009, CDC). The success of the NOT program is attributed to the way that the facilitators 'speak the language' of the participants. However, the need for having counselors who are familiar with the culture, lifestyle, and economic resources of the community is not limited to teen programs, rather this policy of having counselors know the population they service is a necessary component of all anti-smoking initiatives. Counselors must be able to compellingly demonstrate that they can truly understand the unique stressors that affect that community -- and share, if relevant, their own success stories about quitting with participants. Connecting quitting smoking to a series of positive lifestyle changes, such as reducing body weight, and reducing foods in the diet that contribute to hypertension is also important.

The proposed program would consist of weekly support meetings for community volunteers, who would also be able to access a 'hotline' when they felt moments of weakness. Guest speakers would attend the meeting to provide additional support for nutritional and lifestyle choices to make both quitting and maintaining a healthy weight more feasible. To recruit individuals, flyers will be posted regarding the proposed beginning of a formal support group for individuals seeking to quit smoking and engage in weight reduction strategies.

Study

One of the problems with studying the efficacy of certain programs and techniques for quitting tobacco is that quite often participants use a variety of strategies. The participants in the NOT program were compared with teens who did not participate in the high school program. The study found that the quitting rates by non-participants or those who experienced only a brief intervention were 15% and 8% lower, respectively, than participants. The rate of individuals who abstained from tobacco within the proposed program could be compared against the demographics of similar groups of individuals nationally, and against a wider survey of the immediate community of smokers. However, to truly gain a sense of the program's efficacy, long-term data must be recorded, as tobacco use obviously...

Follow-up questionnaires regarding the each participant's ability to maintain a healthy weight would also examine if the goal of the support meetings was met in terms of achieving a healthy lifestyle for the participants. Participants might also be willing to agree, before the study was done, to be weighted and screened for hypertension.
Act

A comprehensive study of the effects of community counseling would require examinations of the participants before and afterwards, and include intensive educational efforts regarding appropriate diet and exercise, as well as support in quitting smoking. On a larger scale, each program would have to be specifically tweaked to address unique community needs: in some areas, healthcare access might be the problem, in other communities the need for education, while still others might manifest depression and despair about the future which exacerbates the desire to smoke. And many regions might simply culturally accept smoking as a lifestyle choice, despite previous educational efforts to convince them otherwise. Overcoming cultural and environmental barriers in a holistic manner is essential for a truly effective community outreach program.

Works Cited

Kaplan, Norman. (2009). Smoking and hypertension. Up-to-date for patients.

Retrieved July 18, 2009 at http://www.uptodate.com/patients/content/topic.do?topicKey=~_1Fz7ZSMOSGC2F

McIntyre, Lynn & Chandrakant P. Shah. (1986, February 15). Prevalence of hypertension, obesity and smoking in three Indian communities in Northwestern Ontario.

Canadian Medical Association Journal. 134. Retrieved July 18, 2009 at http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1490834&blobtype=pdf

Not On Tobacco (NOT) -- Smoking cessation program for 14- to 19-year-olds selected as a model program. (2009, February 15). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Page last updated April 1, 2009. Retrieved July 18, 2009 at http://www.cdc.gov/prc/selected-interventions/adoptable-interventions/not-on-tobacco-smoking-cessation.htm

Practical guide to working with health-care systems on tobacco-use treatment. (2006,

September). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Retrieved July 18, 2009 at http://www.cdc.gov/TOBACCO/quit_smoking/cessation/pdfs/practical_guide.pdf