Helpful Resources Smoking Cessation Tools and Resources

Partnership Tackles Smoking by Raising Community Awareness

Smoking and other unhealthy lifestyle choices have resulted in high rates of chronic, non-communicable ailments such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and even cancer the world over. Central and Eastern Europe is no exception to this troubling rule. In 1995, for example, 17 percent of all deaths in Slovakia—9,518 cases in total—were attributed to tobacco use.

In response, AIHA established a Healthy Communities partnership linking Martin, Slovakia, with Cleveland, Ohio. Partners opened a “Healthy City Office” in Martin to help promote healthy lifestyles and its first order of business was to launch a vigorous anti-smoking campaign in the community.

Cleveland partners stressed the power of mass media in bringing about change and worked with the Martin partners to develop their skills in this area. This allowed clinicians and community leaders in Martin to effectively reach—and influence—the public via newspapers, radio shows, press conferences, and other outlets. Through the Healthy City Office, partners hold an annual “Stop Smoking Day” to raise awareness among the local population and keep the issue on the public agenda. They have also established a Web site that features information about tobacco control, as well as a telephone hotline that provides callers with advice on how to quit smoking. Partners also published evidence-based guidelines for smoking cessation in the Slovak language and established the Center for the Promotion of Non-Smoking.

These efforts in Martin resulted in a decrease of smoking from 36 percent in 1998 to 29 percent by 2002.

Today, long after funding for the partnership ended in 1999, the seeds of change planted through the collaboration continue to grow. The center is constantly expanding its services and has received grants from other sources for projects ranging from textbook development to anti-smoking conferences. The Martin partners also lobby the Slovak government for additional tobacco control legislation and, in 2004, successfully pushed through legislation prohibiting smoking in public buildings—legislation that had been pending for seven years.

Workshop Arms Russian Clinicians with Tools to Help Patients Kick the Habit

Many of AIHA’s Primary Healthcare partnerships adopted the Healthy Communities approach when addressing public health concerns such as smoking. In an effort to arm Russian healthcare professionals involved in its partnerships and programs with the tools they need to help their patients quit smoking, AIHA conducted a smoking cessation workshop in Moscow in September 2002.

Workshop faculty from the US Centers for Disease Control and the Prevention and the Group Health Center for Health Promotion of Washington State introduced participants to a systematic approach to tobacco cessation utilizing intervention techniques, group exercises, and role plays. Each Russian center or partnership site created an individual action plan to address smoking cessation after returning home from the workshop.

In addition to these two examples, many other AIHA partnerships have implemented programs designed to mitigate the ill effects of tobacco use by helping people quit smoking—or better yet, never start. These include:

• The Turcianske Teplice (Slovakia)/Cleveland (Ohio) partnership, which established a Community Health Advisory and Education Center to make smoking cessation counseling and other health promotion services accessible to the public at no cost.
• The Odessa (Ukraine)/Boulder (Colorado) partnership, which effectively promoted smoke-free lifestyles via a smoking cessation program.
• The Uzhgorod (Ukraine)/Corvallis (Oregon) partnership, which established the AIHA Cross-partnership Smoking Prevention Coalition. Comprised of seven AIHA partnerships, this coalition resulted in a number of initiatives primarily aimed at youth, such as new school-based health curricula, smoking cessation programs for students, and the formation of an anti-smoking peer group coalition.

Tools and Resources:

• A Systematic Approach to Smoking Cessation workshop materials, Moscow, 2002
• Healthy Lifestyles Ukrainian Teachers Conference materials (developed by the Uzhgorod/Corvallis Partnership)
• Healthy Lifestyles, Healthy Communities conference materials (developed by the Uzhgorod/Corvallis Partnership, English / Russian & Ukrainian)

Additional Reading:

• Study Assesses Risky Behaviors of Slovak Teens (AIHA CommonHealth, Spring 1997)
• Community Health Center Opens in Turcianske Teplice (AIHA CommonHealth, Winter 1998)
• Slovak Non-Smoking Promotion Center Opens (AIHA Connections, June 1999)
• Slovak Partners Suggest Educating Kindergarteners on Smoking Prevention (AIHA Connections, October 2000)
• AIHA Partners Work in Schools to Curb Adolescent Drinking and Smoking (AIHA Connections, January 2003)
• Stopping the Tobacco Industry's Influence on Our Children and Young Adults (AIHA Connections, May 2003)
• Uzhgorod/Corvallis Partners Train Peer Educators and Encourage a Cross-partnership Anti-smoking Campaign (AIHA Connections, November 2003)
• Moving Beyond Traditional Structures: Russian CLDP Graduates Use Community Mobilization Techniques to Bring Health to Their Cities (AIHA Connections, June 2004)