Engaging the Community to Fight Nicotine Addiction

Transcription

1 Engaging the Community to Fight Nicotine Addiction A COMMUNITY-BASED PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH PROJECT Peer Mentors as Smoking Cessation Educators and Role Models at Monument East Apartments MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY ASCEND CENTER FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

2 CONNECTING ACADEMIC AND COMMUNITY PARTNERS The high smoking rates recorded in underserved neighborhoods in Baltimore served as an impetus for the research. Despite health warnings, tobacco use is still pervasive and disproportionately affects minority and low-income populations. Economic status and cultural influences make these populations especially vulnerable to external factors, such as targeted marketing from tobacco companies. This collaborative research study, sponsored by Morgan State University s (MSU) ASCEND Center for Biomedical Research, was conducted by academic co-principal investigators, Jummai Apata, DrPH candidate in MSU s School of Community Health and Policy and Erica Goldman, Resident Services, Housing Authority of Baltimore City. The team also included community partners from Morgan State s CEASE (Communities Engaged and Advocating for a Smoke-free Environment) initiative. As with other CEASE projects, the overall goal was to reduce a community s tobacco use and the risk for tobacco-related health problems. The Department of Housing and Urban Development s Smoke- Free Housing initiative for federally assisted buildings enabled CEASE to implement its innovative peer motivator approach in a Baltimore City public housing community, the Monument East Apartments. Residents who were former smokers were trained to recruit, mentor, and educate smokers using the CEASE smoking cessation curriculum, CEASE Today!

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4 TAKING STEPS TOWARDS A SMOKE-FREE MONUMENT EAST APARTMENTS STEP 1: Peer Mentor and Resident-Smoker Recruitment Two CEASE Peer Motivators recruited three residents who were former smokers and trained them to be peer mentors. Those three peer mentors then recruited 10 residents each who were current smokers and who had a desire to quit. STEP 2: Resident Education and Counseling CEASE Peer Motivators held one group counseling session based on the CEASE Today! curriculum with the recruited resident smokers. The session was co-facilitated by the CEASE-trained resident peer mentors. Resident peer mentors and their mentees signed an informal tobacco cessation agreement and together developed a Quitplan. STEP 3: Ongoing Resident Mentoring The resident peer mentors supported the mentees for 12 weeks: meeting regularly and encouraging them, checking on their adherence to the Quitplan, teaching them how to use nicotine replacement therapy, and providing them with strategies and resources to support a smoke-free lifestyle. STEP 4: Follow-Up Three months after the 12-week mentoring period, mentees completed a follow-up survey and received a carbon monoxide (CO) breath test to determine their smoking status. Focus group discussions with program participants provided useful information about their experiences with the peer mentor process, including the program s strengths and areas that need improvement.

5 MONUMENT EAST APARTMENTS THE NUMBERS The peer mentor model was successfully implemented among residents of Monument East Apartments. Peer mentors served as positive role models for residents and proved to be effective trainers, motivators, and supporters. 3 residents of the Monument East Apartments were recruited and trained as smoking cessation mentors 30 residents of the Monument East Apartments enrolled in the smoking cessation mentoring program 26 ppm average CO level for the 30 mentees at program start 11 ppm average CO level three months after completing the mentoring period for the 30 mentees 7 of those mentees (23%) achieved non-smoking CO levels (<7 ppm) three months after completing the mentoring period 197mentor interactions with mentees were documented over the 12-week mentoring period

6 IN THEIR WORDS: ON THE IMPACT OF THE PROGRAM It s something I want to do. I want to quit. And this right here was the beginning of the pathway to show me how to quit what you can do and what is going to happen if I don t. Resident Participant Helping the people out, helping them out, talking about how bad it is you know smoking. Harry Brown, Resident Mentor In a group setting, you can actually learn from other people. Resident Participant One thing, I did slow up on smoking from like a pack-and-a-half to around a half-a-pack. Resident Participant PROJECT TEAM AND PARTNERS ACADEMIC: Jummai Apata MBBS, DrPH Morgan State University (MSU) Harry Brown Lorraine George Principal Investigators Monument East Apartments Peer Mentors COMMUNITY: Erica Goldman Office of Resident Services Housing Authority of Baltimore City James Jenkins Brenda Ames Robert Cooper CEASE Peer Motivators Maria Johnson Yvonne Redmond Afua Adusei (Biology, MSU) Arian Azimi (Neurobiology, University of Maryland) Mary Fatehinse MPH (Public Health, MSU) Interns Oyare Oko (Engineering, MSU) Toluwalope Ologun (Engineering, MSU) Oluwatobi Samagbeyi (Biology, MSU) MSU Prevention Science Research Center Staff Payam Sheikhattari MD, MPH, Director Amir Reza Nabipour BSPH, MS-EPI Research Assistant Hamideh Taraji BSN, MBA Research Assistant This project received financial support from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number RL5GM E. Cold Spring Lane Baltimore, Maryland PSRC@morgan.edu morgan.edu/psrc