Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation
Cessation Programs:
Prevention and Advocacy Programs
Not On Tobacco (N-O-T)
The Need for Teen Tobacco Cessation:
- Nearly 90 percent of all smokers begin before the age of 18.
- Over 70 percent of high school students who are regular smokers have tried to quit.
- Many adolescents fail to understand the personal risk of smoking, including nicotine addiction. Over 70 percent of teens who smoked during high school were still smoking five years later.
- Schools are enacting tobacco-free policies, but face difficult enforcement issues. Smoking on school property continues to be a problem, and often results in punishment, instead of cessation assistance.
Effective Solutions
- Modeled after the highly successful Freedom From Smoking® program,
the 10-session N-O-T curriculum was created to help high school
students:
1. stop smoking, or reduce the number of cigarettes smoked
2. increase healthy lifestyle behaviors and
3. improve life skills. - The program is gender-sensitive and is implemented by teachers, counselors, nurses or health educators.
- N-O-T allows schools to provide an educational alternative instead of punitive measures. Thereby the students meet the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and reduce policy violations.
- Early findings show significant reduction and cessation among teens, as well as higher school grades and enhanced self-esteem.
The N-O-T program was developed by the American Lung Association in collaboration with researchers at West Virginia University. You must be trained by a certified N-O-T trainer in order to implement this program!
To find out if your school offers the N-O-T program, please see your school administrator or contact the American Lung Association of NC at 1-800-LUNG USA. For more information on the N-O-T program, please call the American Lung Association of North Carolina at 800-LUNG-USA.
Our current training schedule
Teens Against Tobacco Use (T.A.T.U.)
TATU® Teens Against Tobacco Use® (TATU) is a program that trains students ages 14-17 to mentor youngsters about the dangers of smoking. Research indicates that teens enjoy opportunities to positively influence their younger counterparts. Consequently, this mentoring also serves to reinforce their decisions to remain smoke-free. Evidence suggests that peer-led programs such as TATU are more effective in reducing tobacco. You must be trained by a certified TATU trainer in order to implement this program.
The Need for Tobacco Education:
- Tobacco use begins at an early age. Almost 90 percent of all smokers begin before the age of 18.
- Everyday more than 4,000 kids try their first cigarette; and each day more than 2,000 other kids under 18 years of age become new regular, daily smokers. That's more than 750,000 new underage daily smokers each year.
- The tobacco industry concentrates its marketing efforts on our nation's children. They recognize that new smokers must continually be recruited to replace the nearly half-million who die annually of tobacco-related illnesses.
Effective Solutions:
- The TATU program transforms teens from consumers to consumer advocates. They learn to recognize the tobacco industry's efforts to target them as the next generation of smokers.
- Teens learn the vital role they will play in education children on the dangers of smoking
- Empowered with this new knowledge, the teens take their anti-smoking message to schools throughout their community.
- TATU teens have been involved in advocacy issues in their own communities, which have broadened their roles as youth leaders and role models.
- In elementary and middle schools, high school youth presentations are a refreshing departure from the traditional lessons taught by adults.
Implementing TATU in a Community/School:
In order to implement the TATU program, an adult program facilitator must attend
an all-day training. The American Lung Association also needs commitments
for:
- One or two adult program facilitators, and
- One school program coordinator that would be in direct communication with the American Lung Association (this person can be a facilitator).
To find out if your school offers the TATU program, please see your school administrator or contact the American Lung Association of NC at 1-800-LUNG USA.
Freedom From Smoking®
Each participant gets special attention in developing their own quitting plan, dealing with recovery symptoms, controlling weight, managing stress through relaxation techniques that work, and being ready to fight those urges to go back to smoking. For many smokers, especially those who have tried to quit before, group support can make the difference in helping to stay smoke-free.
The clinic program is based on the premise that smoking is a learned habit, and quitting is a process during which individuals must consciously unlearn the automatic behavior of smoking and substitute new health alternatives.
This quit smoking program is also available to you in the convenience of your own home through our 24-hour online program, Freedom From Smoking® Online. Click the link below for this service. You must be trained by a certified FFS trainer in order to implement this program!
The Need for Adult Smoking Cessation:
- Secondhand smoke is estimated to cause 3,000 lung cancer deaths annually and 35,000 heart disease deaths each year.
- During 1995 to 1999, adult smokers lost an average of 14 years of life.
- It is estimated that exposure to second hand smoke results in the death of 1,220 - 2,180 North Carolinians per year.
- Smoking costs North Carolina $4.74 billion annually in health care costs and lost productivity.
Effective Solutions:
- FFS addresses both the physiological addiction to nicotine as well as the social, psychological and emotional aspects of the smoking habit.
- FFS offers several formats, including a group programs, one-on-one counseling, a self-help guide, and audiotape and an online option. www.ffsonline.org
- FFS has been extensively evaluated and consistently produces positive results
To find a FFS Clinic near you click here or contact the American Lung Association of NC at 1-800-LUNG USA.
