THE LONG-TERM PREVENTION OF TOBACCO USE AMONG JUNIOR-HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS - CLASSROOM AND TELEPHONE INTERVENTIONS

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to implement and evaluate th e effectiveness of a long-term tobacco use prevention program for juni or high school students that used college undergraduate change agents and telephone boosters. Methods. A psychosocial intervention combining refusal skills training, contingency management, and other tobacco us e prevention methodologies such as telephone and mail boosters was imp lemented in 11 junior high schools in San Diego County, California. El even other junior high schools served as controls. Of the 2668 partici pants, 57% were White/non-Hispanic, 24% were Hispanic, and 19% were of other racial/ethnic groups. College undergraduates served as change a gents for both the classroom and booster interventions, the latter of which was delivered in the third (ninth-grade) year of the program. Re sults. At the end of the third year, the prevalence of tobacco use wit hin the past month was 14.2% among the intervention students and 22.5% among the controls, yielding an odds ratio of 0.71 for analysis at th e school level. Conclusions. Both college undergraduate change agents and direct one-to-one telephone interventions appear to provide cost-e ffective tobacco-related behavior modification.