NCJ Number
240114
Date Published
2012
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This report describes the features of and evaluation outcomes for Project Toward No Tobacco Use (Project TNT), which is a comprehensive, classroom-based curriculum designed to prevent or reduce tobacco use by children in the fifth through the ninth grades (ages 10-14).
Abstract
An evaluation conducted 1 year after five groups completed the program found that for both trial and weekly use of cigarettes, the informational social influence group, physical consequences, and combined groups performed better than youth in the normative and control groups. For the trial use of smokeless tobacco, two of the three intervention groups performed better than the informational social influence and control groups; and for the weekly use of smokeless tobacco, participants in the combined condition performed better than youth exposed to all other conditions. In a 2-year follow-up, the maintenance of lower trial and weekly use of cigarettes were found in the combined and physical consequences groups, and lower weekly use of smokeless tobacco was found for those in the combined condition. Project TNT teaches awareness of misleading social information, develops skills that counteract social pressure to use tobacco, and provides information about the physical consequences of tobacco use, such as addiction. It is a 10-day, classroom-based, social-influences program. Two booster sessions examine media, celebrity, and peer portrayal of tobacco use. The evaluation used a five-group, randomized, experimental block design. Forty-eight schools from 27 Southern California school districts were randomly assigned within blocks designed by region (urban, rural), school type (grade range), and a composite variable. Eight schools were assigned to each of the four program conditions. In order to determine outcomes, data were captured through an in-class, 20-page, self-report questionnaire. A total of 6,716 seventh-grade students provided posttest data on the school day immediately after they completed a 10-day curriculum. A total of 7,052 students provided 1-year follow-up data. Two-year follow-up data were collected from 7,219 ninth-grade students. 14 references