The use of tobacco products is associated with a number of adverse health outcomes. These include cardiovascular disease, such as hypertension and myocardial infarction, as well as stroke and lung disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ([CDC], 2014), “Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.” As such, smoking prevention and tobacco cessation programs are one of the most important health promotion programs in the United States.
The smoking prevention program will focus on educating teenagers about the multiple ways in which smoking harms the body. Since many individuals begin smoking as a teenager, the program will predominantly focus on this cohort. The program will utilize an idea that has shown effective in reducing the incidence of crack cocaine use and methamphetamine use. As is well documented with teenagers, the group often believes that it is “invincible.” This is an aspect of the adolescent brain; as such, it is difficult to convince this cohort that their current actions will result in long-term adverse outcomes. The group tends to measure risk in a different want than do adults; this makes it difficult to change risky behavior (NPR, 2011).
The program has focused on the “before” and “after” effects of drug use. The purpose of the program is to appeal to another well-known aspect of teenagers: vanity. This program has taken the pictures of individuals from their mug shots. The original mug shot was “early” during their drug use. Later, the mug shots were from several months to a few years after the individual began to use drugs. The startling difference indicates how the drug use prematurely ages an individual (CBS News, n.d.).
Obviously, smoking does age a person prematurely. The effects of this are not as devastating as does occur with drug use. It is still a useful idea to show students the difference between an individual who smoked and an individual who did not smoke. The pictures will focus on various ages (decades) of individuals who were smokers and those who were not smokers. Pictures of these individuals clearly show a difference in the wrinkles and skin condition between smokers and non-smokers. In this way, students can be encouraged not to smoke if, for no other reason, they will not appear as attractive. There are pictures of identical twins available; one of the twins smoked while the other did not. These are clearly a perfect way to show the devastating aging effects of smoking (Stoppler, 2013).
It is important that students see the effects of smoking on one’s health. While students in the adolescent age group may not believe that lung damage can happen to them, visual effects, such as those with stomas, may be more startling to the student. Most individuals have not encountered a person with a stoma. Other possible suggestions include a person who had his or her vocal cords removed; these individuals need to speak with a computerized voice as a result. This can also be shocking for individuals.
This program will be conducted through social media. In the modern world, social media represents the quickest and most cost-effective way to reach a large audience. Social media can include using platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to post videos and pictures about the damages of smoking. Furthermore, this will help to counter the messages that have been posted by pro-tobacco groups on social media. Since this is an area where tobacco companies and others who are pro-tobacco are using, it is important to post the anti-tobacco messages in this same format. In this method, the adolescents may have the anti-message also readily available to them. This will give the adolescent cohort the complete message about the dangers of tobacco use; this message will focus on an area that the group is highly concerned about: their looks and vanity. While this may seem like the least important area when compared to cardiovascular disease and lung disease, it is an area that is effective for this age group (Struik, 2012, p. ii).
There is a significant rationale for “selling” this program. As already stated, smoking and tobacco use results in the most preventable deaths in the country. The statistics related to smoking and tobacco use are staggering. According to the CDC (2014), smoking damages nearly every organ in the human body. Furthermore, smoking results in more deaths annually than HIV, alcohol use, motor-vehicle collisions (MVCs), firearm injuries and illegal drug use combined. Programs aimed at reducing all or any of these conditions are well-known and well-publicized. Yet, for some reason, there are not as many public campaigns against reducing the incidence and prevalence of tobacco use. The number of U.S. citizens who have died as a result of smoking is beyond comprehension. “More than 10 times as many U.S. citizens have died prematurely from cigarette smoking than have died in all the wars fought by the United States during its history” (CDC, 2014).
Smoking leads to deaths from a number of well-known conditions. Ninety percent of all lung cancer deaths occur in smokers or those exposed to second-hand smoke on a regular basis. Eighty percent of deaths related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are the result of smoking. COPD is commonly referred to as emphysema; however, it should be noted that there are other lung conditions found under the umbrella term of COPD. It should also be noted that the risk of all types of cancer in an individual increase with smoking (CDC, 2014).
Cancers is not the only risk associated with smoking. The risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke increase two to four times in a smoker. It is also noted as a cause of diabetes, as well as a risk factor in pregnancy. Pregnant women who smoke are more likely to suffer from miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, pre-term delivery. The infant is more likely to be a low-birth weight. Pre-term delivery and low birth weight are likely to result in long-term adverse conditions for the fetus (CDC, 2014).
There is also a documented benefit to quitting smoking. Individuals need to be aware that their risks for all of these conditions drop significantly when they quit smoking. If a person quits smoking, his or her risk of heart attack is significantly lowered. Two to five years after quitting smoking, the risk of stroke is that of a non-smoker (CDC, 2014). These factors must be stressed to individuals who already smoke; however, it is also crucial to prevent individuals from beginning to smoke. Many individuals begin to smoke as adolescents.
The program should also be done for economic reasons. According to one study, the economic costs of smoking between 1995 and 1999 was $157 billion in health care costs for the United States. Since the U.S. is experiencing a crisis in the costs of health care for the citizens and residents, it makes sense to reduce a behavior that is associated with such a massive expenditure (CDC, 2002). Furthermore, smokers are more likely to miss work and school as a result of their use of tobacco products. While this program will focus on adolescents, adolescent smokers grow up to be adult smokers. For employers, there is a significant reason not to hire a smoker; a smoker costs an employer approximately $6,000 more annually than does a non-smoker. This cost includes the loss of work due to illness (absenteeism and presenteeism), as well as increased health care costs. It also includes the loss of work due to “smoke breaks.” Due to increased awareness about these costs, more and more employers are refusing to hire smokers. Adolescents must also be made aware that smoking may keep them from obtaining a job in the present and the future. It is also in the best interest of businesses to support any program that leads to a reduction in the incidence and prevalence of smoking (Adams, 2013).
The target audience for this program is adolescents. As already stated, individuals who smoke as adults normally began smoking as adolescents. Therefore, it is important to “cut smokers off at the pass.” If a non-smoking adolescent can be prevented from becoming a smoker, the individual can likely remain a non-smoker for most of adulthood. There are groups of adolescents that should be heavily targeted for this program. This includes adolescents whose parents smoke; this group is more likely to become smokers than are adolescents whose parents do not smoke. Furthermore, adolescents who are friends who smokers are also more likely to become smokers. The reasons for this are quite simple: they are exposed to the influence. For teenagers whose parents smoke, this influence has been present their entire life. Furthermore, if a smoking parent tells an adolescent not to smoke, the adolescent believes, perhaps rightfully so, that the parent is a hypocrite. While the parent may be telling the adolescent this because he or she actually regrets smoking as a lifestyle choice, it still appears hypocritical to the teenager.
Social media and technology is the best method to collect data from this cohort. Modern adolescents grew up with social media and technology; they are therefore quite comfortable with the use of it. Social media can be used as a campaign to address the harmful effects of smoking; again, these harmful effects should focus on the “vanity” part of smoking. It causes wrinkles, premature aging, yellowing of teeth and staining of fingertips. Pictures showing smokers as unattractive can most certainly help this.
The technology can also be used to launch more blatant images of the damaging effects of smoking than are allowed in this country. The anti-smoking pictures used in Europe and Canada are often quite graphic; these are not allowed in the United States. This is likely due to the powerful tobacco lobby. These pictures have been shown to have an effect on whether or not an individual will quit smoking or not begin smoking. They are an effective method of public health policy (Hammond, Fong, McDonald, Brown et al, 2006, p. 259).
A Facebook campaign can be launched with these pictures. A simple “poll” can be taken with regards to whether or not the individual (an adolescent) is more or likely to begin or to quit smoking after viewing these images. The social media can also tally how many “clicks” the pages receive. The pages should offer additional information on tobacco use; this includes where the individual can obtain information about tobacco cessation programs. The use of social media has been shown as an effective means by which tobacco prevention messages can be delivered. The study focused on females; however, the messages can also be constructed in a way that would appeal to male adolescents. The findings [in the study] suggest that young women are receptive to [tobacco control] messages on social networking sites if messages are interactive, provide access to further information, and are positively framed in relation to becoming or staying smoke free” (Struik et al, 2012, p. 84).
Social media and networking sites are an easy way to collect data. The site provides for real-time collection of data; this can help to determine what times in the day should be used for “blanketing” of the messages. The information with regards to access can easily be sent to a program that would tally these “clicks.” This can also include information with regards to how long a person stayed on a webpage. Obviously, it is not possible to determine if the person continuously viewed the message; it will still give an indication about this data though. Furthermore, it is a more cost-effective way to reach a large number of adolescents in a format that they are most likely extremely comfortable with. For this reason, social media is the way to deliver these messages and to collect the corresponding data.
- Adams, S. (2013, June 5). Every smoker costs an employer $6,000 a year. Really? Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/06/05/every-smoker-costs-an-employer-6000-a-year-really/
- CBS News. (n.d.). Meth’s devastating effects: before and after. Retrieved from: http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/meths-devastating-effects-before-and-after/
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC. (2002). Annual smoking-attributable mortality, years of potential life lost, and economic costs–United States, 1995-1999. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 51(14), 300.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014, February 6). Health effects of cigarette smoking. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/#definition
- Hammond, D., Fong, G. T., Mcdonald, P. W., Brown, K. S., & Cameron, R. (2006). Showing leads to doing: graphic cigarette warning labels are an effective public health policy. The European Journal of Public Health, 16(2), 223-224.
- NPR. (2011, September 20). Understanding the mysterious teenage brain. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/2011/09/20/140637115/understanding-the-mysterious-teenage-brain
- Stoppler, M. (2013, May 9). Which twin smokes? Retrieved from: http://www.medicinenet.com/smoking_effects_pictures_slideshow/article.htm
- Struik, L. L., Bottorff, J. L., Jung, M., & Budgen, C. (2012). Reaching Adolescent Girls Through Social Networking: A New Avenue for Smoking Prevention Messages. CJNR (Canadian Journal of Nursing Research), 44(3), 84-103.
