Teens Against Tobacco Use: A Model for Universal Tobacco Prevention and Youth Advocacy (TATU)

This study evaluates the efficacy of Teens Against Tobacco Use anti-tobacco presentations on tobacco use susceptibility in 4th-8th grade. Classrooms are randomly assigned to either receive a series of two presentations or wait listed to receive them later in the school year.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Tobacco Smoking Behavior
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Teens Against Tobacco Use

Detailed Description

The investigators will collaborate with Austin High School, Wiggs Middle School, and Guillen Middle School of the El Paso Independent School District to implement smoke free youth coalitions as an after school activity. The coalitions will follow the Teens Against Tobacco Use (TATU) model developed by the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society, and the American Heart Association. Participating youth will be trained to develop and deliver anti-tobacco presentations to younger students. Each school will have a separate youth coalition operating under the guidance of an adult coordinator. High school youth will present to middle school classes, whereas middle school youth will present to 4th and 5th graders.

To evaluate the efficacy of the smoke-free presentations, the investigators will first match pairs of classrooms willing to have a presentation and then randomly assign one classroom in each pair to either receive the presentation first (intervention condition) or later in the school year (control condition). Following a presentation to a classroom in the intervention condition, investigators will administer a brief survey about tobacco to students in both the intervention class and its matched control class, who have not yet received a presentation. Analyses will compare intervention and control classrooms on smoking susceptibility, perceptions of harm from tobacco use, tobacco industry perceptions, and social norms on tobacco use.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 2414
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • El Paso, Texas, United States, 79902
      • The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, El Paso Regional Campus

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 4th to 8th grade student
• Classroom must be willing to be randomly assigned to either receive presentations earlier in the school year or late in the school year

Exclusion Criteria:

• Classes in participating schools that are not in the 4th to 8th grade
• Students not able to read English or Spanish

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention; Classes receive anti-tobacco presentations from Teens Against Tobacco Use members	Behavioral: Teens Against Tobacco Use; Teens Against Tobacco Use teen teachers develop and then deliver anti-tobacco presentations to the target population of younger students.
No Intervention: Wait list control; Classes continue as usual without receiving anti-tobacco presentations from Teens Against Tobacco Use members until the end of the year, when data collection is complete.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Standardized Tobacco Susceptibility as assessed by 12 likert scale items drawn primarily from the global youth tobacco survey	Tobacco susceptibility captures the likelihood of using tobacco in the future. It is a continuous variable that will be standardized, so outcomes will represent standard deviation unit differences in tobacco susceptibility.	within 24 hours of receiving presentation

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• Collaborators: Paso del Norte Health Foundation
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Louis D Brown, Ph.D., The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Brown LD, Bandiera FC, Harrell MB. Cluster Randomized Trial of Teens Against Tobacco Use: Youth Empowerment for Tobacco Control in El Paso, Texas. Am J Prev Med. 2019 Nov;57(5):592-600. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2019.06.013. Epub 2019 Sep 26.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: November 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 1, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): June 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 1, 2015
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 8, 2015
• First Posted (Estimate): May 13, 2015

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 14, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 12, 2020
• Last Verified: October 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: HSC-SPH-14-0729