Remembering R. Scott Chavez
The
Chavez family requests that condolences be sent to the NCCHC office at 1145 W.
Diversey Parkway, Chicago, IL 60614. Donations may be made to the Hepatobiliary Cancers Foundation.
For those of you who have seen or heard earlier announcements about Promising Practices 2014, we’ve moved the dates over one day so that it will now be occurring on April 28-29, 2014. And a location has been set as well! Our next conference will take place in Washington, DC. We’ll keep you informed as more details are finalized.
Vital Signs: Current Cigarette Smoking
Among Adults Aged ≥18 Years with Mental Illness — United States, 2009–201
The
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently released a Morbidity and Mortality
Weekly Report (MMWR) on tobacco use and mental health. The report analyzed data
from the 2009–2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), finding that
adults with mental illness used tobacco at a rate of 36.1% as compared to 21.4%
for adults without mental illness. The prevalence of tobacco use was higher
(47.9%) for those living below the federal poverty level than for those at or
above the federal poverty level (33.3%).
Key
findings among current smokers with mental illness are:
· The
average number of cigarettes smoked in the last month was higher than for
adults without mental illness.· Adults with mental illness quit at a lower rate (34.7%) than adults without mental illness (53.4%)
Given
that people living with mental illness smoke more cigarettes per month and quit
at a lower rate statistically, it is important to engage more mental health
professionals in addressing the issue; implement systems change in mental
health facilities to make treating to tobacco use part of the continuum of
care; and help mental health and tobacco control programs collaborate on
programming to ultimately reduce tobacco use among people living with mental
illness.
Click
here for the Brief
or the Full
Report.
Community
Colleges Are Important Partners in Reducing Tobacco Use
Break Free Alliance is
pleased to report that it has convened two meetings with the American Association of
Community Colleges (AACC) to discuss the problem of tobacco use among
community college students and how community colleges can benefit from and
become a part of the “Tobacco-Free College Campus” initiative sponsored by the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Approximately 1,132 public,
independent and tribal colleges are a part of the AACC’s system. Forty-five
percent of students are between the ages of 22-39. Single parents make up 13%
of the student population, non-US citizens 6%, veterans 3% and students with
disabilities 12%. Forty-two percent of students report that they are the first
generation to attend college.
Tobacco use is higher among
the populations referenced above and community colleges can be strong partners
on local and statewide tobacco coalitions and workgroups. Reach out and invite
them to the table!
We’d like to highlight two
community colleges in West Virginia who are taking on the issue of tobacco use
on campus: West Virginia University at Parkersburg and West Virginia Northern
Community College. By enacting tobacco non-use policies and providing cessation
services and referrals for students, these colleges recognize the role they
play in improving the health of their students, faculty and community. For more
information about the tobacco prevention and cessation programs of these
community colleges, please contact
Break Free Alliance.
Additionally, the AACC is
forging ahead with revising and re-issuing their Position Statement on Tobacco
Use. Congratulations to the AACC for recognizing tobacco use as an important
issue to address. We look forward to continued partnership and collaboration!
Family Dollar vs. 7-11
Despite
community protest, Family Dollar
is continuing with its plan to sell cigarettes in their stores.
Unfortunately,
using cigarette sales as a source of revenue is catching on among other chain
dollar stores as well. Dollar General is following in Family Dollar’s footsteps
and is planning to begin cigarette sales in its stores. Most of their stores
will be stocked with cigarettes by mid 2013. Click here to read more.
The
good news is that convenience stores such as 7-11 are taking a different
approach. 7-11 is shifting its focus from cigarette sales to food sales after
gross margins dropped from 20.8% to 14.6% from 2002 to 2011. They are realizing
that cigarettes are not as lucrative a product as food items and are choosing
to scale back. “Over the course of the next 10 to 20 years, we fully expect for
cigarette sales to continue to decline,” writes spokesman Scott Drake. “We are
planning for cigarettes to not be a part of our long-term business
model.” Read the whole story here.
The CDC’s Tips from Former Smokers campaign has some excellent and readily-accessible resources in their download center. If you are a local health department working with organizations that serve low SES populations, consider offering to print some Tips posters that can be put up on their walls if your budget allows, or assist them in putting a button on their website.
The National Networks
website provides helpful information, resources and links regarding priority
populations, as well as a vast inventory of promising tools and programs for
working with members of our communities. The website features current
news, upcoming events, pictures, discussion feeds and more, so visitors can
stay updated on the latest information and opportunities to connect.Please visit www.tobaccopreventionnetworks.org to see how you can help advance parity and eliminate tobacco-related disparities.
Visit the Alliance's Facebook, Twitter and blog pages to keep up-to-date with future events, resources and advocacy initiatives. To view these pages, click on the Facebook, Twitter and blog icons below.
Become a Partner!
If you’ve been waiting to share your expertise with us and contribute to our
Network, now is your chance! We need your expertise. We’re looking for tobacco
control advocates, policy experts, grassroots organizers, fundraisers,
researchers, and others dedicated to ending the cycle of tobacco and poverty.
Visit here to learn more about what being a Partner with
Break Free Alliance means and how you can participate.Association for Community Health Improvement's 10th National Community Health Conference
March
12-14; St. Louis, Missouri
March
14-16; Washington, D.C.
April 25th and 26th; Washington, D.C.
The
articles listed below are just a snapshot of what you can find in Break Free
Alliance’s Repository.
For additional articles relating to tobacco use among low SES populations,
visit the Research
section of the Repository. Also, we’re looking to add more items to the Resources
and Directory
sections in our Repository: if you have expertise in and/or resources about low
SES populations and tobacco control issues, let us know!
Project
Exhale: Preliminary Evaluation of a Tailored Smoking Cessation Treatment for
HIV-Positive African American Smokers
AIDS
Patient Care STDS. 2013 Jan;27(1):22-32.
Matthews
AK, Conrad M, Kuhns L, Vargas M, King AC.
Understanding
maternal smoking during pregnancy: Does residential context matter?
Soc
Sci Med. 2012 Dec 1. pii: S0277-9536(12)00785-X. [Epub ahead of print]
Shoff
C, Yang TC.
Ongoing
self-engagement in quit attempts and cessation outcomes among rural smokers who
were unable to quit after 2 years of repeated interventions
J
Rural Health. 2013 Jan;29(1):106-12.
Azor
Hui SK, Nazir N, Faseru B, Ellerbeck EF.
Tobacco
Use During Military Deployment
Nicotine
Tob Res. 2013 Jan 8. [Epub ahead of print]Talcott GW, Cigrang J, Sherrill-Mittleman D, Snyder DK, Baker M, et al.
Attitudes
Toward Smoke-Free Workplaces, Restaurants, and Bars, Casinos, and Clubs Among
U.S. Adults: Findings From the 2009–2010 National Adult Tobacco Survey
Nicotine
Tob Res. 2013 Jan 7. [Epub ahead of print]King BA, Dube SR, Tynan MA.
No comments:
Post a Comment