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Tob Control 19:i43-i50 doi:10.1136/tc.2009.030700
  • Research paper

Evaluation of California's in-school tobacco use prevention education (TUPE) activities using a nested school-longitudinal design, 2003–2004 and 2005–2006

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  1. William J McCarthy3,4,5
  1. 1California Department of Public Health, California Tobacco, Control Program, Sacramento, California, USA
  2. 2Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
  3. 3WestEd, Los Angeles, California, USA
  4. 4Department of Health Services, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
  5. 5Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Hye-Youn Park, California Department of Public Health, California Tobacco Control Program, PO Box 997377, MS 7206, Sacramento, CA 95899-7377, USA; Hye-Youn.Park{at}cdph.ca.gov

  1. Contributors None.

  • Received 1 April 2009
  • Accepted 10 February 2010

Abstract

Background Current legislative language requires the California Department of Public Health, California Tobacco Control Program, to evaluate the effectiveness of the school-based Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE) programme in California every 2 years. The objective of the study was to measure change and to identify the impact of school-based tobacco use prevention education activities on youth smoking prevalence and attitudes over time, spanning two school year surveys (2003–2004 and 2005–2006).

Methods Evaluation focused on school-based tobacco use prevention activities in 57 schools (student sample size, n=16 833) that participated in the in-school administration of the 2003–2004 and 2005–2006 California Student Tobacco Surveys. Hierarchical linear models were used to predict student tobacco use and precursors to tobacco use.

Results Overall, student tobacco use, intention to smoke, number of friends smoking and perceived smoking prevalence by peers increased as students moved through grades 9 and 10 to grades 11 and 12. TUPE-related activities showed a suggestive association (p=0.06) with reduced rate in student tobacco use between the two surveys after adjusting for other contextual factors such as each school's socioeconomic characteristics.

Conclusions TUPE activities appears to be beneficial in reducing tobacco use in California high school students over time. Other contextual factors were important moderating influences on student tobacco use.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests None.

  • Ethics approval This study was conducted with the approval of the Health and Welfare Agency, committee for the Protection of Human Subjects at the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development in California.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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