A 2-year efficacy study of Not On Tobacco in Florida: an overview of program successes in changing teen smoking behavior

Background: Adolescent smoking has been an issue of major concern in the United States. This has led to a need for the development, evaluation, and dissemination of effective youth cessation programs. The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a 2-year demonstration study (1999-2000) of the American Lung Association's teen smoking cessation program, the Not On Tobacco (NOT) program.

Methods: The study used a "matched" design wherein each NOT school was matched to a brief intervention (BI) school. The study consisted of 20 NOT and 20 BI Florida high schools encompassing 627 students. The primary outcome measures were carbon monoxide-validated quit and reduction rates for NOT and BI schools at 5.2 months postprogram.

Results: NOT smoking cessation and reduction outcomes were significantly better than those of the brief intervention. Further, data indicate that NOT was more effective than the brief intervention for females compared with males; males showed successful quit attempts in both intervention groups. Overall, more NOT youth either quit or reduced smoking than did BI youth.

Conclusions: These positive smoking behavior changes suggest that NOT is an effective teen smoking cessation option.