CHANGES IN ADULT CIGARETTE-SMOKING IN THE MINNESOTA HEART HEALTH-PROGRAM

Objectives. The Minnesota Heart Health Program was a research and demo nstration project designed to reduce risk factors for heart disease in whole communities. This paper describes smoking-specific intervention s and outcomes. Methods. Three pairs of matched communities were inclu ded in the study. After baseline surveys, one community in each pair r eceived a 5-year education program, while both cross-sectional and coh ort surveys continued in all sites. Adult education programs for smoki ng cessation included Quit and Win contests, classes, self-help materi als, telephone support, and home correspondence programs. Results. Enc ouraging short-term results were obtained for several adult education programs. Overall long-term outcomes were mixed, with evidence of an i ntervention effect only for women in cross-sectional Survey data. Unex pectedly strong secular declines in smoking prevalence were observed i n comparison communities. Conclusions. The findings suggest that commu nity education may be unlikely to exceed dramatic secular reductions i n smoking prevalence. The success of several key interventions and the incorporation of Minnesota Heart Health Program interventions by educ ation communities are encouraging, however.